Going Home
by iHeartMusic-27
Summary: Serena has been healed from her fatal illness, and she has finally come to take her place back as the yellow ranger. She wants Emily safe, and sends her back to the farm. She returns to highschool, but is it really safer?
1. The Letter

**Author's Note: Hey! So I've had this idea for the longest time, and I've just been dying to try it out. If you guys like it I will continue, so tell me what you think, and I hope you enjoy! Xoxox**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Samurai**

**Chapter One: The Letter**

Emily sat on her stool in the common room doing her homework. Since she was missing school to fulfill her samurai duties, her mother suggested online courses so she wouldn't have to catch up on school when she got home. This meant though that Emily spent all her time either training, sleeping, or studying. She barely had time to do anything if she wanted to keep her grades up. This is why on her day off she was doing homework, while her fellow team mates got to relax.

Mike was playing his newest video game, taking his free time to advance as far in the game as he could. Kevin had gone to the pool to catch up on his swimming. He was hoping to defeat Xandred before the next Olympics, so he went to the pool when he wasn't training. Even though swimming was still training, since he was the water samurai. Mia was in the kitchen making a "deluxe dinner and dessert". No one had the heart to tell her about her cooking, so they were all forced to consume her toxic creations. Antonio had gone fishing so he could still keep his business going. Antonio had dragged Jayden along with him saying that if he didn't go, Jayden would be training on his day off. Emily didn't know where Mentor Ji went, although she was almost positive he was in his study doing whatever he did when he was in there.

Emily was trying to write her paper for English when the door bell rang. She looked up, startled. No one had ever rung the door bell before because no one was supposed to know where the Shiba house was located. So when it rang she was instantly alert and ready for the worst. Mentor Ji came out from his study and cautiously walked towards the door. When he opened it up he saw it was simply a mail man with a letter.

"Hello Sir." the man said with a fake smile. He was dressed in a typical post office uniform. It was navy blue, and he even had the stereotypical satchel on his shoulder.

Emily seemed much more relaxed now, seeing that it was only the mail man coming to deliver a letter. Knowing Ji, it was probably a letter from one of his many "friends" he always mentioned.

"Hello, what can I do for you?" Mentor Ji asked the man.

"There's a letter here, for a miss Emily Fields?" the post man said. He wasn't sure if he had the right address, but it had been a 15 minute drive up so he only hope he was at the right house.

"Oh, thank you. Have a good day." Mentor said as he took the letter from the man's hands and slowly closed the door.

"You too, sir." he said as he walked off back towards his big white car.

Mentor stepped back inside and called for his youngest student, "Emily! There's a letter for you."

Emily walked over and took the letter from his hands. Mike was curious to why she was getting a letter and walked over to join her. Mentor retreated back to his room and left the two samurai alone.

"Who's it from?" Mike asked curiously.

"I don't know." Emily said as she began tearing open the letter. She was nervous, thinking the worse. Maybe Serena had died while she was gone, or maybe there was a farming accident and her dad got hurt. Maybe her mom died in some freak tornado.

Emily yelped excitedly when she recognized the handwriting on the letter.

"It's from Serena!" she said excitedly.

"Well what does it say?" Mike asked, happy that his crush's older sister was still alive. And if she was writing a letter she was obviously doing better and could now actually stay away long enough to finish the letter.

"Hold on." Emily said as she started reading the letter to herself. It read, "_Dear Emily, I hope you're doing okay and haven't gotten hurt. I've been so worried about you! But guess what?! I have great news! I'm finally recovering! Mom and I went to Sweden and they tested some new medicine on me. It isn't legal in the U.S. yet, but who cares!? The doctors said that it's working and that in a week I should be good as new! Isn't that awesome? I'm so happy! You know what else? This means you can go home and I can take my place back as the yellow samurai ranger. You can go home and not have all this pressure on you. You can focus on school, and you can graduate with the rest of your class! Isn't this awesome? Well, I'll see you this Friday! Love you! Lots of love, Serena Xoxo"_

Mike saw Emily's face fall as she got towards the end of the letter. At first her face was bright and happy and smiley. Then she almost looked, sad. Like something in the letter had upset her.

"You okay Em?" Mike asked.

"Great, actually. The letter was from Serena. She said that she went to Sweden and they tried this medicine, and she's recovering. She said she's going to be fine." Emily said, trying to fake a smile.

It wasn't that Emily was upset that Serena would be completely healed. In fact she was so excited about that half of the letter she could have cried tears of joy. She was upset that she had to leave. Although it was sometimes stressful being a samurai and a student, she loved it at the Shiba house. She finally had friends who cared for her.

These friends wouldn't turn their backs on her either. They had showed that they truly cared for Emily. It was the first time in her life that Emily actually had real friends. But now that Serena was coming, she would be sent back to the farm. Back to school, back to the bullies, back to the weak little Emily she was before she came to the Shiba house. While she was there, she had grown a great deal. She was no longer so shy, but she was more outgoing. She was still very accident prone, but she was much better than when she had first entered the Shiba house.

But she was going to lose all of that, she was sure of it. She would revert back to being the shy girl who got pushed around all the time. But this time it would be worse. There would be rumors about where she had gone while she wasn't at school. The kids would beat up on her for all the times they couldn't because she was gone. But now Serena wouldn't be there to comfort her. Emily couldn't go to Serena for help, or just to feel better. She would be on her own, and still worried that any day her sister could die.

"That's great news that she's going to be okay!" Mike said happily.

"Yeah," Emily said half-heartedly, "and she also said she's coming to take her place as the yellow ranger."

"Well what is that supposed to mean?" Mike asked. He was obviously confused and didn't understand what Emily was trying to say.

"Serena is coming here, and I'm going home." she replied.


	2. Telling the Others

**Chapter Two: Telling The Others**

Mike didn't know what to say. He went from happy to sad in an instant. Serena was healthy now, but she would be taking back her place on the samurai team. That meant that Emily had to leave. Mike was in shock.

"A-Are you sure you have to leave?" Mike asked.

"There can only be one yellow ranger. Serena trained for this her whole life, well up until she got sick. But she was born first anyways, this is her destiny. I was just standing in until she got better." Emily said with a sigh.

"But can't she just-" Mike was interrupted when Jayden, Antonio, and Kevin walked through the front door.

"Hola amigos, how was your day off?" Antonio asked cheerfully.

"Uhmm.." Mike didn't know what to say. He didn't know if Emily was ready to tell them yet. She hadn't given Mike permission to tell anyone, so he thought it best to keep his mouth shut. If Emily wanted them to know she would tell them herself when she was ready.

"Jay, do you think we can have a meeting in the common room?" Emily asked quietly.

"Sure. Let me go get Mia and Ji." Jayden said. He didn't know why Emily wanted a meeting, but it had to be important. Emily wouldn't have asked unless it was really important.

A few minutes later, the whole team was waiting in the common room. Everyone was sitting in their stools except Emily. Emily was nervously standing in front of everyone. She didn't know how to start the meeting. She didn't know how to tell them that she was leaving.

Thankfully Ji helped her out, "Is this about that letter you got today?"

"Yes." Emily replied.

"What letter?" Mia asked.

Emily took a deep breath as she started, "I got a letter from Serena today. Before you say anything, she's still alive. In fact, she's actually recovering. Some doctors tried a new medicine on her and it's working. Her body is recovering. She said that she should be fully healed within this next week."

"That's great news!" Mia said happily.

The rest of the team, excluding Mike, nodded their heads in agreement. Mike just sat there with his head down.

"It is great," Emily agreed, "but she told me something else. She told me she's coming to take her place back. I'm going home."

"What?" They all said in unison.

"When Serena gets here, I'm going back to the farm." Emily replied sadly.

"But you can't! You're the yellow ranger!" Mike said. He was getting angry now. As happy as he was that Serena was healed, he didn't want Emily to leave.

"This was originally supposed to be Serena, I was just replacing her." Emily said.

"She's right." Jayden agreed, "This is Serena's birthright. If she's healed and as good as Emily says she is, then Emily can go home."

"But Jayden!" Antonio argued. Even he was starting to get upset now. Emily was the first person to welcome him to the team when he came. She hadn't been anything but nice to him since. She was originally the only one who believed in him. He wouldn't let her leave.

"But nothing Antonio." Jayden said sternly.

"I agree with Jayden. I'm going to hate to see Emily go too, but this is Serena's place. This is her destiny, she trained all her life to be here." Kevin argued back.

"You can't be serious here." Mike said. He didn't want to see her leave either. Like Antonio, Emily was the first person to really believe in him outside of his parents. Emily and him had also grown fairly close since first arriving. He wouldn't deny that he had a crush on the yellow ranger. But she saw them as friends, best friends even, and that was good enough for Mike.

"Jayden is being totally serious." now even Mentor Ji was joining the argument, "If Serena is healed completely then she can finally fulfill her duties as yellow ranger. I know we've all come to love Emily, but if Serena wants to come take her place she has the right to do so."

"Guys," Mia said gesturing to Mike and Antonio, she sounded disappointed, "I'm going to miss Emily too. But you need to realize that this is for the best. Serena was originally supposed to be here, this is her place. Not Emily's."

"She's right guys," Emily said. "Plus, Serena is an awesome fighter! I'm sure with her, you guys will defeat Master Xandred in no time! Then when he's gone, maybe we can all hang out. It's not like I'll never see all of you again."

"I guess you're right.." Antonio said with a glum look on his face.

"Well. Serena said she would be here Friday, and it's Thursday. I better go start packing." Emily said sadly as she walked off towards her room.

"I'll come help you." Mike said as he walked to join her.

"Thanks." Emily said.

"Ya know, I'm really going to miss you when you leave." Mike said sadly as he helped her pull a large suitcase out from under her bed.

"I'll miss you guys too. But we can still talk." Emily said, trying to lift Mike's and her own spirits. They put the extremely large suitcase on Emily's bed and opened it up.

"How? You'll be at your farm and Mentor doesn't like us using his phone." Mike asked.

"You have a laptop right?" Emily asked.

Mike nodded.

"We can video call each other. That's better than a phone anyways. We can just video call each other whenever I'm not doing homework and you aren't fighting nighlock or training." Emily said, happy she thought of a solution.

"Okay. Sounds like a plan." Mike said with a half smile, as he started to help Emily place all her clothes and personal items into the suitcase.

"Too bad you have to leave tomorrow though.." Mike said sadly.

"Yeah.." Emily agreed.

"We can do something tonight? If you want I mean, cause it is your last night here and all." Mike said nervously as he placed her favorite sweater in the case.

"Like what?" Emily asked curiously. She stopped packing and looked up at Mike for a clue what he was talking about.

"Just meet me in the kitchen tonight at midnight. It'll be a surprise." Mike said with a smirk on his face. He wanted to make her last night memorable. He was going to pull out all the stops so that Emily could have the best time.

Emily looked up at him with a smile and then continued packing her things away.


	3. Midnight Surprise

**Author's Note: Just wanted to thank all of you for reviewing and favoriting and following. I really appreciate it and I'm super glad you're liking the story so far! Well that's all I have to say, so please continue to read, enjoy, and review! Thanks! xoxox**

**Chapter Three: Midnight Surprise**

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful for Emily. She had finished packing her bags and her half of her and Mia's room looked completely bare. Her bags were up against the door, ready to grab when Serena got to the Shiba house. All day Emily had been hiding out in her room. She didn't want to see anyone except Mike or Antonio. Although she knew they didn't mean to, Mia, Jayden, Kevin, and even Mentor Ji had hurt her. She knew that they would all eventually have to agree with Serena taking her place. But she had hoped that they would have defended her a bit more and not warmed up to the idea of Serena being the yellow ranger so quickly.

Because of this she limited her interactions with more than half of the team for the rest of that day. She would nod and barely acknowledge them whenever they talked to her. If they asked her a question she would say the bare minimum and then walk away, but if Mike or Antonio talked to her she would actually continue the conversation. She felt like they were the only two in the house who didn't want her to leave.

So by the time that night came, she told everyone she was going to bed and would see them in the morning. She didn't bother getting changed since she knew she would be meeting Mike later anyways. She brushed her teeth though, put her curly blonde hair in a ponytail, and crawled into bed. She set her alarm for 11:50 p.m. and went to sleep.

****Going Home****

When her alarm went off she woke up and quickly shut it off. She looked across the room and saw that Mia was still sleeping. Thankfully her alarm hadn't woken her up. She got out of bed and placed her pillows under her blankets so it looked like she was sleeping under her covers. She stood up, and looked in the mirror. She straightened out her clothes and fixed her hair before she snuck out of the room.

She very quietly crept down the hallway and into the kitchen. By now it was 11:55 and she saw that the kitchen light was on. She walked into the kitchen and saw that Mike was sitting at the table, already waiting for her.

"You got here early." Emily whispered.

"I didn't want to be late." Mike whispered back with a smirk.

"So where are we going?" Emily asked.

"You'll see. Now c'mon." Mike said as he gestured for her to follow him out the back door.

Emily happily followed him out the door and slowly and quietly shut it behind her. She walked down the steps and saw that Mike was sitting in the driver's seat of Jayden's bright red convertible.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked as she walked over towards the car.

"I stole his keys." Mike responded with a smirk.

"Why? You are so going to get in trouble!" Emily shrieked.

"Who cares? It's your last night here. Might as well have some fun!" Mike said, still smiling.

Emily hesitantly stood in the driveway. She couldn't decide whether to get in the car or not. She didn't even know if Mike even had his driver's license.

"C'mon! Get in! I promise you'll have fun!" Mike tried to persuade her.

Emily reluctantly walked over to the passenger side of the car. Mike reached over and opened up the door for her to get in. She slid into the seat and Mike started up the car. He pulled out of the driveway and started towards the city. It took about 15 minutes to get from the Shiba house all the way to the city. The whole drive Emily had repeatedly asked where they were heading, but each time Mike had refused to tell her.

"Please just tell me!" Emily begged once again as the lights from the city were starting to come into view.

"We're almost there!" Mike said with a laugh, "Just wait a few minutes!"

"Fine." Emily said as she sat back in her seat and started to pout. She knew that once she started pouting no one could ever tell her no. Especially not Mike.

Unfortunately for her, Mike didn't look over at her and managed to resist her pouting face. Soon though they pulled into their destination.

"We're here!" Mike said happily.

"Rainbow's End?! I love this place!" Emily said excitedly. She had gone there once before with the rest of the team and had been begging to go back ever since.

"I called ahead and they said they could keep it open later tonight, just for you." Mike said, grinning happily as he talked.

"Oh Mike!" Emily exclaimed. She unbuckled her seat belt and reached over to give him a hug.

"This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me! Thank you!" Emily said while still hugging him tightly.

"You're welcome." Mike said laughingly. "Now let's go inside before you squeeze me to death."

Emily released him from the hug and climbed out of the car. When they were both out of the car Emily grabbed Mike's hand and raced towards the entrance.

They spent almost the whole night playing games, riding rollercoasters, and eating carnival food. When they finally decided it was time to go it was 4 a.m. They walked back to the car both smiling.

"Thanks a lot Mike. That was so much fun!" Emily exclaimed happily.

"You're welcome. I'm glad you had fun, but there's one more place we have to go before we can go home." Mike said smirking.

"But it's 4 a.m! The others will be up soon! They'll know we left and that we took Jayden's car!" Emily said. She was suddenly very worried that they would get caught.

"It's fine Em, we won't get caught. Trust me." Mike said, trying to reassure the younger girl.

"Okay.." Emily said nervously. She was still scared of being caught, but she trusted Mike. He would never purposely get them in trouble. Even if they did get caught, she was leaving today. Mentor Ji couldn't really do anything to her.

They both got back in the car and Mike started driving again.

This time Emily didn't bother asking where they were going. She knew that no matter how much she begged him, Mike wouldn't budge. So she sat in the passenger seat with the radio on loud. Her favorite song came on, 'Home' by Philip Philips. She naturally started singing along. The song reminded her of when she first came to the Shiba house. She had been so scared, but in her time there it had become like a second home. She would miss it dearly when she left, but she knew it was best.

When Mike heard Emily singing along to the radio it put a smile on his face. He was going to remember this moment for long after Emily left.

Soon the car ride ended and Mike turned off the radio. He hopped out of the car and over to Emily's side. As he helped her out of the car he handed her a blindfold.

"Here," he said "put this over your eyes."

Emily reluctantly followed his orders and tied the blindfold so it was covering her eyes. At the bottom though she left a little space so she could still see the ground.

"Now what?" Emily asked as she tried to feel around for Mike or the car.

"Hop on my back." Mike said as Emily finally felt him in front of her.

Emily nervously jumped onto his back. Mike grabbed her legs, keeping her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tight.

"Now hold on." Mike told her, "We're going down." and with that Mike started to walk and descend down all of the stairs leading to their final destination.


	4. Saying Good-Bye Part I

**Chapter Four: Saying Good-Bye Part I**

As Mike reached the bottom of the very long staircase, he set Emily down. When her feet hit the ground she felt that the ground didn't feel very sturdy. It felt soft, not like concrete or wood floors. She looked down through the slit she had made in her blindfold. She couldn't see well because it was so dark, but it looked like sand.

"You can take the blindfold off now." Mike said.

Emily slowly took the blindfold off and realized she was right. Her and Mike were on the beach, and no one else was around. She looked up and saw all of the stars shining brightly overhead. It reminded her of home. Although she didn't want to leave her friends, she was still kind of happy to go home. She got to see her parents again, who she missed dearly, and she got to go back to the farm. She liked the city, but she was definitely a country girl.

"It's beautiful." Emily said. She was awestruck, this was the first time she had seen the stars outside of her small farm.

"It gets even better at sunrise. The sky is all orange and yellow and pink and purple. You can see all the stars too. It's pretty amazing. I thought you might like it, so I figured we could stay until sunrise. It's in like half an hour." Mike said.

"Sounds perfect." Emily faced him with a big smile on her face.

"Great." Mike said, returning the smile.

Mike sat down in the sand facing the water and Emily sat down beside him. As they sat there waiting for the sunrise, Mike saw Emily start to shiver. So he took off his jacket and put it on her shoulders. Then he pulled her closer to him, and wrapped his arm gently around her. Emily looked up and smiled at him, silently thanking him.

Mike smiled back and they turned their focus back to the ocean. There was no sounds except the crashing of waves on the shore. Soon they saw the sun rise up over the horizon, and soon the sky was a multitude of colours. They both smiled as they watched it, and they looked back and saw that some stars were still visible too. It looked like half the sky was pink and orange and yellow, while the other half was a beautiful purple with small white dots.

Emily snuggled in closer to Mike as they watched the sun completely rise over the water, and the sky was turning bright blue again. When the sun was finally over the water, they decided it was time to leave.

They silently walked back to the car, holding hands. Emily still had Mike's jacket draped over her shoulders. She wasn't cold anymore, but she liked how it made her feel warm and safe.

They both got in the car and drove back to the Shiba house. When they got back, thankfully no one was up yet, so they snuck back in. Mike returned Jayden's keys to their rightful place, and he walked Emily back to her room so she could get a little bit of sleep before she left.

"Thanks for tonight," Emily said when they reached her door. "I had a lot of fun."

"Me too." Mike replied with a happy smile.

They both stood there a moment before Emily took off Mike's jacket and gave it back to him. Then she got on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. With that she opened the door and went straight into her room.

Mike stood there a moment after the door closed and just smiled to himself. It had been the perfect night, and the only thing that could make Mike happier was Emily staying. Unfortunately though she had to leave that day, so Mike went back to his room to get some sleep before Emily left.

When Emily heard her alarm clock going off, she knew it was finally time to get up. She had gotten no sleep that night/morning. She had been gone all night with Mike, and hadn't gotten home til around 6 in the morning. When she got home she was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. So she set her alarm for 7 and sat in her bed and started thinking.

Was Serena really fully healed? Had she changed much since she'd seen her last, besides the disease? Had Emily changed at all? Would the kids at school welcome her back, or would she start right where she left off? These thoughts had raced through Emily's mind for about an hour until it was interrupted by her alarm clock.

When she heard it, she quickly turned it off and went to take a shower. She wanted to look good for her sister, and for her last day with her friends. While she was with Mike, she realized ignoring her friends was stupid. Although they had hurt her deeply, she should enjoy the time she had left with them.

She looked over to Mia's bed and saw that she was already up. So she grabbed her clothes and went into the bathroom before Mia came and hogged it all morning. Mentor had told her yesterday that because of Emily's departure and Serena's arrival, they would have the day off from training. So Emily knew that she could put on her make-up and do her hair without worrying that training would just mess it up.

Emily took a quick shower, and came straight out. She didn't want to waste any time. She got dressed, applied her make-up, and started drying her hair. When it was mostly dry she pinned back some of her hair and exited the bathroom. When she came out she noticed that Mia wasn't in the room yet.

Emily, confused, walked out of the room and into the common room. When she walked in she saw yellow balloons everywhere. She saw on the table was cake, her favorite. It was a chocolate cake with yellow and white frosting on it. She walked closer and saw there was writing on it. When she got a closer look she saw it said "We'll miss you Em!". She smiled seeing that even though she had ignored them, her friends still cared. She looked around the room, expecting to see someone. But she didn't, the room was empty.

Emily jumped when her friends all jumped out from behind chairs and counters yelling, "SURPRISE!".

Emily's hand flew to her mouth as she was trying to recover from the shock. Before she could recover though, her friends all pulled her into a big group hug. Emily's eyes started to water as her hand left her mouth and she flung her arms around her friends.

"Thank you guys, so much." Emily said while trying to hold back the tears threatening to spill over her eyes.

"So you aren't mad anymore?" Mia said with a smile.

Emily laughed, "Of course not. I am so sorry guys. It was so childish of me to get mad at you all like that. I hope you can forgive me."

"Of course we forgive you. We understand why you were upset." Kevin told her.

This time Emily's eyes really did start to water. She started crying and she couldn't stop. Her friends all tightened the hug around her, and she gladly embraced them all again.

"Thank you guys. This means a lot, really." Emily said with a big grin on her face.

"Anything for you, Em." Mike said cheerfully.

They all finally let go from the rather large group hug, and Emily had time to catch her breath. Tears were still coming from her eyes, but they were happy tears.

"We want you to know that even if you leave, we will never forget you. And no one, can ever replace you. You will always be the yellow ranger to us." Mia said, trying to hold back her own tears.

"We'll even try to figure out a way to talk to you while you're on the farm." Jayden said. Even he was getting touched by all the emotions coming from everyone in the room.

"I think I may have already figured that out." Antonio said with a smirk. He ran off down the hallway and into his and Jayden's room. They heard shuffling, but soon Antonio came out with a rectangular box wrapped in bright yellow paper.

"What's this?" Emily said as Antonio presented her with the box.

"A good-bye present, it's from all of us." Kevin replied.

"You guys didn't have to." Emily said looking around at all her friend's faces.

"Just open it and thank us later." Mike said as he urged her to open it.

Emily gently took the paper off her present and saw it was a laptop. It looked rather new, and was still in the proper packaging.

"Oh gosh guys! This is so cool! Thank you, this is so sweet of you!" Emily said as she went around and hugged each of the rangers as thanks for her gift.

"It has a webcam, so you can video call us. Mike told us you had one at home, but this one is the newest model. It'll work a lot better than a plain video camera." Antonio said happily.

"I even allowed them to buy a laptop with a camera for the Shiba house, so we can all talk to you." Mentor said smiling.

"Awwh Mentor!" Emily said excitedly as she ran over and gave her mentor a big hug.

The hug was interrupted when the rangers and Ji all heard the doorbell. Knowing who it was this time, Emily ran over to answer it. She looked out the window quick just to double check. She smiled when she saw she was right, and opened the door to reveal her older sister, looking healthy as ever, with her bags at her side and a smile matching her sister's on her face.

"Serena!" Emily said excitedly as she gave her sister a huge hug.


	5. Author's Note

**Author's Note: Before I continue with this story, I have something to say. I ask that you would read this, please. So here it goes, I understand everyone has a right to their own opinion. If you like Jemily more than Memily, that is totally fine. I won't try and make you change your mind. If you really just can't stand Memily, that's cool too. I will respect your opinion. But please do not come onto my stories for the sole purpose of telling me you hate it, or it sucks because it's not Jemily. If you want me to write a Jemily story, please POLITELY ask me or pm me. But just because you don't like Memily, does not mean you should tell me you hate the story. Truth is, I have spent a lot of time on my stories. I upload them here so you can all enjoy them too. I don't mind taking the time to put them all here and write new ones upon request, but I do ask that you don't send me hate. Because honestly, if you don't like it, don't read it. Simple as that. If you don't like Memily, that's cool. But please don't post stuff on my stories about how it sucks, just because it's Memily. And if you hate it for some other reason, I am deeply sorry. But there is no need to review and tell me you hate it. Just leave and read something else. Thanks.**

**Big thank you to everyone who reviews and that note didn't pertain to! xoxox**


	6. Saying Good-Bye Part II

**Author's Note: After my last little rant, I just wanted to make sure ya'll know that I am so thankful for all of you who nicely review and read my stories. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, and please enjoy this next chapter :) xoxox**

**Chapter Five: Saying Good-Bye Part II**

Serena squeezed her sisterly tightly and refused to let go. She hadn't hugged her sister in literally years. It had been about a year since Emily had come to the Shiba house, and before that Serena was too sick to get out of bed. She was going to savor the moment.

Soon though Emily managed to squeeze her way out of Serena's arms. She had tears in her eyes seeing her sister healthy after so many years of illness. Serena was starting to tear up too, seeing how her sister had grown. It had only been a year, but she could see Emily was different. She seemed confident, and she seemed like the girl Serena always knew she could be. The tears were tears of joy. The sisters were so happy to be reunited that they were crying tears of joy.

The other rangers smiled at the two, happy that Emily finally got to see her sister healthy again. Whenever she mentioned the older girl, she always mentioned how her only wish was for her to get better. It seemed her wish had finally come true, and she was beaming with happiness.

"I'm so glad to see you again Emy," Serena said with a smile.

"I'm just glad you're going to be okay." Emily replied, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Me too squirt." Serena said as she ruffled her younger sister's hair.

Mike coughed, bringing the two back to reality. Emily turned to see her friends, and dragged her sister towards them.

"Serena, this is Jayden the red ranger," said Emily as Jayden awkwardly smiled and waved. "This is Kevin, the blue ranger, Mia is pink, Antonio is gold, he's new, and Mike is the green ranger!" Emily said as she bounced with excitement.

No matter how much Emily wished to stay, she knew she couldn't. Since she couldn't she hoped that Serena could be as good as friends with the rangers as she had been. She knew it would be a different kind of friendship since Serena was older, but she could still hope.

"Hey guys." Serena said as she waved and looked over her new teammates.

They were standing in a line, and the first person was Jayden. She looked at him and noticed two things. The first thing was that he seemed slightly awkward, like he wasn't used to meeting new people. She could only assume he didn't have much social interaction living in the Shiba house. The second thing she noticed, he was cute. He seemed about her age, and although she had been sick so many years, she knew a cute boy when she saw one.

The next in line was Kevin. He seemed uptight. But he also seemed like he was neat and tidy. He was dressed nicely, and almost all in his colour.

After Kevin was Mia. She looked at the girl and noticed they seemed about the same age. She looked to be the friendliest of the group, and she had a big welcoming smile on her face.

Beside Mia was Antonio. She didn't remember there ever being a gold ranger, but she knew he must be good to have been added to the ranger team. He seemed friendly, and he looked about the opposite of Kevin. He was also dressed mostly in golds or yellows, but it seemed to be a theme. Almost everyone was dressed in their ranger colour. Antonio seemed slightly sloppy, and like Mia had a large grin on his face. But unlike Kevin's half-smile, Antonio seemed sincere. Like he honestly wished to meet her and get to know her.

She noticed at the end, with Emily standing beside him, was Mike. He seemed like he was much more interested in Emily than Serena. He looked at her and smiled, but it looked like he was only doing so to be polite. In his eyes she saw that he was slightly upset by her coming. She could understand why. It looked like all the rangers had formed friendships with Emily. She had noticed they all smiled at the young girl, and it looked like they had just finished a good-bye party for her too. She could tell Emily had finally found some true friends. She could understand that Mike was upset that Emily was leaving.

Emily walked back over to Serena and gave her sister another hug, "I am just so glad you're okay."

Serena smiled and hugged her sister tight before letting her go. She grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"I'm glad you're okay. I was so worried that you'd die. That's why you know you need to go back. At home you'll be safe, I won't have to worry about you getting hurt anymore." Serena said sadly.

"I know." Emily sighed. She didn't want to go home. She liked it at the Shiba house. Her friends were nice, she was having fun, and there were no bullies. Everyone here was supporting her. At home, the kids pushed her around and brought her down.

"You better go Em. You don't want to miss the bus." Serena said sadly.

"Okay…" Emily said sadly. She walked to her, now Serena's, room and grabbed her bags. She walked back into the common room, and saw a few of her friends already had tears in their eyes.

Emily walked over to them and gave each of them a hug.

"We're gonna miss you Em." Jayden said as he hugged the young girl.

"I'll miss you guys too." Emily replied sadly, the tears were starting up again.

"Remember to video call us." Kevin told her after he released her.

"I won't. I promise." Emily assured her older brother.

"I'm gonna miss my little alarm clock. Stay safe, and don't forget to talk to us. I'm going to miss my best friend." Mia told her as tears spilled down her face.

"I won't forget Mia. I'll miss you too." Emily said as she continued to move down the line with the tears starting to cloud her vision.

"I'll miss you mi amiga. Thank you, for encouraging me to join the team too. I never got to fully thank you for that." Antonio said sadly.

"It was no problem. Just don't get kicked off." Emily said with a small smirk.

Mike hugged Emily tight when she finally came down to him. He didn't want her to leave. He wanted her to stay at the Shiba house, stay with him. But he knew she couldn't. The only reason he was letting her go was because he wanted her safe. She would be much safer on her farm than off fighting evil Nighlock.

"I'm going to miss you so much Em. Don't forget me. And make sure you call or video call or anything. Just stay in touch. Promise me?" Mike said sadly. Tears were spilling from his eyes now too. But at this point, he didn't care if the others saw him cry. He was losing his best friend, and the only girl he truly ever liked.

"I promise Mike. I'll call everyday if I can. I won't forget to stay in touch. I'll really miss you too." Emily said as she hugged Mike once again.

Serena was crying by now. She saw the way the others cared for her sister, and it made her feel bad about making her leave. But she knew it was for the best. After the war was over, she would make sure they saw her again. She owed her sister that much.

Emily walked back over to her sister and gave her one final hug. By now everyone had shed atleast one tear, and Emily and Serena were both bawling.

"Bye Serena. Stay safe, I'll miss you." Emily said as she let go of her sister.

She walked towards the front door with her bags. When she got there, she turned around and saw her friends were all puffy eyed and teary. She said a final good-bye, and they all bid her farewell.

Emily closed the door behind her, and walked towards the cab parked outside the gate.

"Where too miss?" the cab driver asked as Emily got settled in the small yellow car.

"Bus station." Emily replied sadly.

As they drove away Emily looked longingly at the Shiba house, wishing she could only go back.


	7. Welcome Home

**Chapter Six: Welcome Home**

Emily sat on the bus, waiting for the three hour ride to finally be over. She had been sitting there for more than two hours, and she was dying to move around. She was squished in her seat. On one side was the window, which was her only entertainment besides her thoughts on the long trip, and on the other side was an overweight mom with her child sitting beside her. It wouldn't have been too bad, except the little boy kept pushing his mom, which in turn kept pushing Emily into the window.

It seemed that finally the little boy had settled down and she could only hope he would be asleep for the rest of the trip. The mom was fast asleep, and she was starting to drool on Emily's shoulder. Emily readjusted herself so the woman's head was no longer on her shoulder and she once again gazed out the window.

The whole trip she was deep in thought. She was going to miss her friends at the Shiba house, no doubt about it. They had all grown rather close over the past year. She had found an older brother in Kevin and Jayden, a younger brother in Antonio, a big sister in Mia, and a best friend in Mike. She was going to miss them dearly, especially because she was going home to the town full of kids who despised her.

She could only hope that in a big highschool the other kids wouldn't recognize her. That would give her a chance to start over and even possibly make a friend or two. Unfortunately her town was small, and almost everyone would know and remember her. They would all remember her as the small, weak Emily though. This gave her hope that when they saw the new confident Emily maybe they would finally accept her. But she doubted it.

The kids had always picked on her, even in kindergarten. She was the kid who even the nerds made fun of. She was on the bottom of the food chain. Even in kindergarten the other kids had been brutal. Sure, brutal was different from kindergarten to highschool, but still. In kindergarten the other kids would break her crayons, kick sand in her face at recess, and push her off the swings for a laugh. It would only get worse in highschool.

She could only imagine the rumors that would go around the school as to why she was gone. When she left for the Shiba house, her parents had told the school it was a family emergency and she wouldn't be returning any time soon. But now that she was back the kids would make up crazy ideas as to where she had been for the past year. Undoubtedly a rumor would circulate that she was pregnant, or that her parents didn't want her and sent her to boarding school. Both would be hard to prove wrong. She couldn't prove she hadn't been pregnant, the kids would say she gave the baby up for adoption. She didn't have a school transcript to prove she hadn't been sent to a boarding school either. Things were definitely going to be tough.

Before she knew it, Emily's train was pulling to a stop outside the station. The woman beside her jolted awake, along with her son. The boy, energized from his nap, was talking wildly and was practically jumping in his seat. The woman was trying to shush him but was failing miserably.

Emily stood up from her seat and stretched out. It had been a long ride and her cramped position did nothing to make it more comfortable. Everyone slowly started filing of the train. Emily hopped off and looked around for her parents. Serena told her they planned on meeting her at the station but they were no where in sight.

"Emily! Over here sweetie!" Emily heard her mom call from somewhere in the sea of people.

She looked around and noticed her mom and dad standing by the gates with smiles on their faces. She walked over, lugging her yellow bag behind her. When she got to her parents she gave both her parents a hug.

"Welcome home baby." Emily's mom said as she held her daughter close.

***Going Home***

After Emily had left, almost everyone retreated to their rooms. Mike had been the first to leave, clearly upset the team had let Emily leave. He had hoped they would have put up a fight, claiming Antonio could simply make another morpher. But no, no such luck. Disappointed, Mike went back to his room with the laptop and got to work setting up a Skype account so he could be ready for Emily's call as soon as she got home.

Kevin had followed Mike and promised he would help him so he wouldn't break it. That had been partly true, but he also knew someone needed to talk to Mike. He seemed very upset Emily had left and while everyone had said hi to Serena, Mike seemed to be giving her the cold shoulder.

Jayden and Antonio had gone in the dojo to train, claiming that they couldn't miss a day of practice. In all honesty though, Jayden wanted to train. Antonio was just too afraid to talk to Mike fearing his temper would flare because of Emily. He did not want to be at the front of that attack.

That left Mia to give Serena the tour of the house and to show her to her new room.

"And this is your new room! Well, ours. Emily and I used to bunk together, so you can have her side of the room." Mia said as she finished the tour with their room.

Mia had shown Serena the kitchen, the dojo, the common room, and everywhere else she could think of. It was quite a big house so it took awhile before they had finally reached their room.

Serena set her stuff down on the empty bed. She sat down and looked around. The whole house seemed to be very samurai themed as far as decorating went. But her new room was clear of anything samurai besides the ape and turtle zords and the training uniform neatly placed on a chair in the corner of the room. She saw on Mia's side were a few band posters and a pink lamp, but that seemed to be the only decorating she had done.

Overall the room was quite simple. Besides the posters and the lamp, it was almost completely bare of colour. The walls were a sickly looking white, and the floors were wooden. The dressers were also wooden, and in the bathroom everything looked white.

"So what do you think?" Mia asked.

"They have a really nice house. It'll take a little getting used to, but I like it here." Serena said as she smiled at Mia.

"Good," Mia said as she looked at her wristwatch, "Oh goodness. I better get started on dinner. Well you can get settled in while I go cook you a welcome dinner. Be in the kitchen in an hour, okay?" Mia said as she made her way towards the door.

"Oh, okay. I'll be there." Serena said as Mia left the room.

Serena started unpacking, but her thoughts soon went from unpacking to Emily. She shared one of the same worries as Emily. Would high school really be safer for the young girl?


	8. Some Things Never Change

**Author's Note: Hey ya'll! I know this is a bit late, but Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you lovely people! I hope ya'll had an awesome time (I know I did, til I got sick) and stay safe! Please enjoy! xoxox**

**Chapter Seven: Some Things Never Change**

Serena walked into the dining room to see all the rangers sitting around the table. There was only one spot left, which Serena assumed was Emily's old spot. It made sense because the seat was in between Mike and Mia, Emily's two best friends.

"You're just in time for dinner." Mia said with a smile. She gestured for Serena to take the seat next to her. Serena gratefully walked over and sat down next to Mia and Mike.

Once she was seated, everyone started eating, or gagging. Mia had made dinner and Serena wasn't sure it was even edible.

When Mia saw Serena was hesitant to eat her creation she spoke up, "It's peanut butter and jelly pasta! You'll love it."

Serena nodded her head and once again looked at her plate. She could barely make out the noodles, and they looked like they were covered in chunky brown goo.

She looked at her new teammates and it looked like none of them were enjoying it, but they were trying to hide it. When Mia wasn't looking they would spit the food out, either into a napkin or back onto the plate. What concerned Serena was that you couldn't tell the difference between the spit up food and what was originally on the plate. But everyone on the team made it look like they were enjoying it.

So Serena picked some up on her fork, and forced herself to put it in her mouth. Her first instinct was that she was being poisoned, and she needed to spit the toxins out. But Serena resisted the urge and swallowed. Thankfully Mia hadn't seen Serena's pained expression because she was too occupied looking at the other ranger's reactions.

"This is great Mia." Kevin even managed to choke out.

"Really? I was kind of scared you wouldn't like it.." Mia said.

"Oh no, it's delicious." Jayden lied.

"Good, do you like it Serena?" Mia asked hopefully.

Serena stared at her wide-eyed. This was it. If she told Mia the wrong thing, it could make everyone hate her. She had two options. She could tell Mia the truth and say it was the worst thing she had ever tasted. Or, she could tell her it was fantastic and she loved it. She didn't know what to do. If she lied and Mia found out, she would be dead. But if she told Mia the truth she would be crushed. She didn't want to hurt her, she was sure if she did the others would not be happy with her.

She looked around at the others, seeing they were all staring expectantly. It looked like they were silently begging her to lie, to spare the pink ranger's feelings.

"It's really yummy." Serena decided to lie.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn't had time to warn Serena of Mia's awful cooking, but they were very glad she had caught on in time. They didn't like having her lie, but it was better than crushing Mia's feelings. Jayden flashed Serena a smile, thanking her silently for keeping the secret of Mia's cooking. Serena smiled, blushed, and looked away.

Mia smiled happily at the newest member of the team, "Yay!" she exclaimed happily.

"So Serena, now that you're part of the team, tell us about yourself." Jayden said, flashing Serena another smile.

"Well.." Serena started as she again starting blushing like mad.

Mike abruptly got up and walked out of the room, "I'm going to go skype Emily." He had said as he left, visibly upset that Emily seemed to be so easily forgotten.

***Going Home***

By the time Emily and her parents got back from the airport it was already dark outside. Since Emily lived in a small town, there was no train station close. So it had been a long drive home. But Emily smiled when she saw the familiar red barn and fields surrounding her little white house. It looked as though it hadn't changed since she left. The horses were grazing in the field and the cows weren't too far away.

Emily's mom, Tracy, saw her daughter's smile, "You miss this place?"

"Yeah. I did." Emily replied.

Emily's dad pulled into the driveway and parked the car. Emily hopped out and helped her dad grab her bags from the back of their truck. She walked up to the house and opened the door. Everything still looked exactly the same. From the way the couch was in the perfect position to see the small TV, to the way the logs were arranged next to the fireplace.

Emily was glad to be home.

"Honey, once you put your things upstairs, why don't you come to the store with me. I was so busy getting your room ready, I forgot to go grocery shopping." Tracy asked.

"Sure mom. Lemme just go put these bags upstairs." Emily said happily. She couldn't wait to tell her mom all the things that had happened while she had been at the Shiba house.

"Okay, I'll be waiting in the car." Tracy said as she walked right back out the door.

Emily raced up the stairs with her bags and placed them on the bed. She ran back down the stairs and out the door. Her mom had already started the car and was ready to pull out. Emily opened the passenger side door and hopped in.

The whole ride to the grocery store, Emily told her mom countless stories of the Nighlock they had battled. She told her about Negatron, Dreadhead, and everyone else she had faced. Her mom listened happily, enjoying hearing how her daughter and her team had worked together so well.

Too soon for Emily's liking, they made it to the one of the only grocery stores in her town. Emily and Tracy got out of the car and Tracy grabbed a cart. They walked up and down the aisles, grabbing things off the shelves as they went by. By the time they were near the checkout lines, the cart was almost completely full.

"Emily honey, I need to run over to the pharmacy quick to get your dad's medicine. Think you can checkout for me? I'll be back real soon, I promise." Tracy asked her youngest daughter.

Emily sighed, "Sure mom."

"Great! Here's my credit card. I'll be waiting out front when I'm done." Tracy said as she exited the store.

Emily shook her head and moved forward in the line. Soon a register was open, and Emily was so tempted to wait for another. The cashier was one of Emily's old tormentors. Just her luck.

The man behind Emily gestured to the open register and urged Emily to move forward. Emily reluctantly went to the open register and started unloading her cart. She hoped her tormentor wouldn't recognize her, but that hope quickly vanished.

"Emily?" the girl asked, clearly surprised to see the town loser had come back.

"Oh, hi Jessica." Emily said nervously.

"Where have you been the past year?" Jessica asked with a smirk. "Oh, lemme guess. You were sent away because your parents finally had enough of the crybaby?" Jessica guessed.

'And the torture begins…' thought Emily as she shook her head no. Even after being gone a whole year battling evil nighlock, Jessica still made her freeze in fear.

"Hmm… You couldn't have gotten pregnant. Too ugly for that, I mean, nobody would want to do it with you. Unless you were a whore on the street and they were _really_ desperate." Jessica chuckled as she continued to ring up Emily's groceries. She had missed having someone to pick on. She could make fun of the other kids, but it Emily had always been her favorite victim. Everyone loved to tease Emily, it was just so easy.

Emily was close to tears. She knew things would be bad, but she had hoped for one day of peace before the storm. She knew coming to the grocery store was a bad idea…

"So if you weren't sent away, and you weren't pregnant, where were you?" Jessica asked.

"Somewhere…" Emily muttered. She couldn't tell Jessica where she really was. Although she was no longer a ranger, she couldn't reveal her identity. It could possibly give Serena away, too.

"Whatever, I'll figure it out eventually." Jessica said as she finished ringing up the last item.

"$86.93" Jessica read the total to Emily.

Emily ran her mom's credit card, and paid for the groceries. She put all the bags into the cart and muttered a 'thanks' under her breath. As she walked away though, Jessica slid her foot out and tripped Emily. Not only did Emily trip and fall, but the cart rolled away and into a display of canned tomato juice. The pyramid of tomato juice collapsed and fell onto Emily.

Emily let out a whimper as Jessica burst out laughing. Now she really was going to cry. Not because she hurt physically, but because she knew nothing had changed. She knew she would still be picked on, and it seemed Jessica was making up for lost time.

"Silly little Emily. Still as clutzy as ever." Jessica teased as she continued to laugh at Emily.

Emily picked herself up off the ground and walked out of the store. She saw her mom was waiting in the car so she walked over. She put the bags of groceries in the back of the truck and got into the front seat.

Tracy noticed her daughter's expression, "Are you okay? Did something happen?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Let's just go." Emily said, holding back the tears that were starting to build up. 'I have a lot to tell Mike tonight' thought Emily as she and her mom drove home.


	9. Don't Tell

**Author's Note: Sorry it's been awhile guys. I re-wrote this chapter like five times because I never liked how it turned out. But it's done now, so enjoy. And happy new year to everyone! Xoxox**

**(P.S. I don't own skype or whatever programs I may mention accidentally in this story. I'm trying to simply say "video-call" but I'm still getting used to it. So just clearing that up.)**

**Chapter Eight: Don't Tell**

When Emily got home, she quickly ran up to her room. She locked the door and stood up so her back was pressed against it. She let out a sigh before she started crying. Her body slid down slowly so she was now sitting against the door.

Emily tried to get herself to stop, but she couldn't do it. Less than an hour of being home, and she had already gotten verbally abused. Things were not looking up for her. As she sat crying, she remembered what she used to do when she was younger and kids picked on her.

Emily would always run to Serena and tell her everything that happened. Serena would always comfort her and make her feel better. But Emily couldn't talk to Serena now, her older sister was at the Shiba house while Emily was still on her farm. That's when she remembered that her friends had bought her a new laptop so she could video call them.

She got up off the floor and ran over to her suitcase sitting on her bed. She dug through the bag until she found the new box containing her going-away present. Tape was covering it though, so she grabbed her scissors and tore through all the packaging in her way. When she finally reached the laptop, she pulled it out and plugged it in so it could charge while she used it.

Emily laid on her bed and opened the laptop. She quickly found the program she needed. It took awhile to load since the internet in the country was so bad, but she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Mike was on. She pulled up his contact. Before she could press the button to video call him, a new window opened up. Mike was already calling her. Emily eagerly pressed accept and wiped away her tears while she waited for her computer to connect to Mike's at the Shiba house.

"Hey!" Mike exclaimed happily. He had been waiting all day to see her. She had only left that morning, but it felt like forever ago to Mike. Because she was taking the train instead of an airplane, Emily hated flying, it had taken her longer to get home. That meant it had been a longer wait for Mike. But now that he was finally talking to her, a smile appeared on his face. He hadn't smiled since Emily had left.

"Hi Mike!" Emily said. Now she could talk to someone about what happened. She hoped it would help, like it used to when she talked to Serena. But she didn't want to tell Serena, not this time. Emily didn't want her sister worrying about her. If her sister knew she was already having trouble, she didn't know what she'd do. Mike was a good substitute though. She felt safe talking to him, and knew he wouldn't make fun of her or judge her. She and Mike had a bond that she couldn't explain. She would never tell Mia, but she considered Mike to be her best friend.

"How are you doing? Did you get there okay? Did anything happen?" Mike asked eagerly.

"Well, now that you mention it… Something did happen…" Emily said uneasily. Emily didn't want to worry Mike, but she had to tell someone about what happened with Jessica. Her parents were an obvious no, they'd go contact Jessica's parents, humiliate Emily, and fuel Jessica's anger even more if she got in trouble.

"What happened?" Mike asked. He was very concerned. He knew Emily had only been home an hour or two at the most. If something had already happened, things didn't look good.

Just as Emily was about to explain the situation to Mike, she heard someone knocking on Mike's door.

"What?" Mike asked angrily.

"Mike we need to talk!" Kevin called from the other side of the door.

"Can it wait? I'm talking to Em!" Mike called back. He was not in the mood to talk to anyone in the Shiba house. Emily had only told them she was leaving the day before, and now Serena was here, and no one seemed upset at all to Mike.

"Fine. As soon as we're done, we need to talk." Kevin said. Mike heard Kevin angrily stomp away.

"What was all that about?" Emily asked, obviously Kevin was mad about something.

"Oh nothing, no big deal. So what were you going to say Em?" Mike asked, trying to take the focus off of himself.

"Well the train was fine, so was the drive home. But uhm.." Emily's eyes started tearing up, yet again.

"What happened?" Mike said sympathetically.

"My mom and I went to the store. She asked me to check out so she could run another errand quick. When I went to check out, uhm.." Emily was starting to choke up from crying. Although what Jessica said hadn't been too bad, it had brought back awful memories. Memories that were only making things worse.

"What happened?" Mike asked again.

"The girl who was at the register, she used to pick on me a lot. I was hoping she wouldn't recognize me. She did." Emily said. Another tear fell of her cheek and landed on her bed.

"Oh god. What did she say? I'll kill her." Mike said angrily. Ever since he had met Emily he had the instinct to protect her. He knew she didn't need it, but he felt like it was something he had to do. So when Mike heard someone was hurting her, it made Mike angry, very angry.

"Well it wasn't much. She asked where I was. She asked if my parents sent me away because they didn't want me. Then she basically called me an ugly whore and asked if I got pregnant. Then when I was leaving she tripped me. But it wasn't that bad, I just knocked over some tomato juice." Emily said sadly, even though she was trying to sound as optimistic as possible.

Mike was furious. No one hurt Emily and got away with it. That girl was lucky that he wasn't there. If he was, his anger would have gotten the best of him for sure. He definitely would have blown up and hurt her.

"I'm so sorry Em. I wish I could have been there. You know none of that's true though, right? Your parents love you, and you are _not_ an ugly whore. That girl is just jealous of you." Mike tried to comfort his best friend.

Emily chuckled, "That's what Serena used to say too…"

"Do you want to talk to her? She can probably help more than I can." Mike asked.

"No! Please don't tell her, or anyone. I don't want to worry you guys. I'll sort it out. I'll be fine here, promise. Just _please_ don't tell!" Emily begged.

"Okay, I won't. I promise." Mike said after a moment of hesitation. He thought Serena should know, but he had to trust Emily knew what she was doing and could take care of herself.

"Thanks Mike." Emily said as she wiped away the remaining tears from her face.

Emily heard another knock from Mike's room. She recognized Mia's voice calling in the background.

"Can we please come and talk to her?" Mia asked Mike.

"Fine, come in." Mike said after he gave Emily a thumbs up and made sure she was ready to talk.

"Emily!" Mia squealed as she, Kevin, Antonio, Serena, Jayden, and even Mentor Ji entered the room to talk to Emily.

"Hey guys!" Emily said, trying her best to hide the fact she had been crying minutes before.


	10. First Battle

**Author's Note: Okay, super sorry. I know all these author's notes are super annoying and you just want to get to the story. But I would just like to formally apologize for not updating. I had the worst writer's block. I THINK I'm over it now though, so things should go much more smoothly now. Well read and enjoy, don't forget to review/favourite/follow! Thanks to everyone who already has!**

**Chapter Nine: First Battle**

Emily woke up the next morning feeling exhausted. Not only had she been emotionally taxed with leaving her friends and facing one of her bullies, but she had been up all night worrying about her first day back at school. Today was the day Emily would have to return to the horrid life she left behind. To say she was dreading going back would have been an understatement.

Her only hope was that her past tormentors would either have found someone else to pick on, or would have hopefully forgotten about her and would ignore her like any other new kid. The first option would be her best chance. Because she lived in such a small town, it was unlikely many new kids had transferred to her school, and it was very likely everyone would remember the weak little girl they all used to love to pick on.

But because she was Emily, she was trying her best to be optimistic. This would be her fresh start. She needed everyone to see how she had transformed from when they had last seen her. She was no longer the weak girl she had been when she lift for the Shiba house. Now she was much more confident and much less klutzy.

Being a ranger had definitely helped Emily. When she first got to the Shiba house she was timid and nervous. Mia had taken the role of Serena though and helped Emily to open up. Because of Mia, Emily had gotten out of her shell and was able to grow. Kevin and Jayden had given Emily something to strive to be like when she first arrived. Her drive to be like them had shown Emily what she could accomplish when she really tried. Mike and Antonio though had helped Emily the most, mainly Mike. He had always lifted her spirits and tried to help her confidence grow. When Emily was finally confident in herself though, her accidents and spills started to happen less and less. Fewer bonsai were broken, she had less bruises than before, and she kept her balance much better than one she had first gotten to the Shiba house. When Emily was with her friends, she was a different person. Her only hope now was that she could be the same Emily she had been at the Shiba house.

She knew that unfortunately, appearances were everything to try and convince everyone she had changed. So she hopped out of bed and went to take a shower. She got out, put on her dark blue skinny jeans, her yellow shirt, and her tennis shoes. She put on a little bit of make-up, and curled her hair. She looked in the mirror one last time before finally deciding she looked decent enough.

Emily went downstairs to see her parents were where they used to be every morning before she went to school. Her mother was bent over the stove, cooking some breakfast for everyone. Emily's father was sitting at the kitchen table with the paper and a mug filled with black coffee. When they heard her come down the stairs and into the kitchen they both looked up and gave her a smile.

"Morning honey. Did you sleep well last night?" Tracy asked her daughter.

"Yeah." Emily replied quickly. She grabbed a fresh apple from the center of the table and took a large bite.

"Do you have time to eat breakfast with us?" Tracy asked as she carried two plates over to the table. She set one down in front of Emily's dad, Byron, and another where Emily used to sit.

"I don't think so mom, but thanks. I better get going." Emily said as she rushed out the door grabbing her backpack on the way. She walked over to the shed and threw her apple on the ground. Her bike was still in the shed, just where she had left it. She pulled it out and hopped on. The bike was still working just as she remembered, she had missed going on bike rides. While she was in the city she didn't have much time, and not many people rode bikes around anyways. So as she rode her way to school she enjoyed the familiar feeling of the wind rushing through her hair. The feelings of nervousness were blown away as she made her way down the dirt road leading to the high school.

Too soon for her liking she reached the large building. Because it was a small town they didn't need a very large school, but it was still much bigger than the elementary school down the road. Emily hopped off her bike and tied it to the bike rack outside the school. As she approached the school she saw many people she recognized, but some she didn't. She kept her head down though, and avoided eye contact as much as she could.

Emily walked straight to the office to collect her schedule. Unfortunately, the first week of school had already started. That meant all the teachers would go through the standard, 'This is Emily and she will be joining our class from now on. Everyone say hello.' This was bad news for the blonde. Instead of hiding in the back of the room, she would be forced to stand in front of her former tormentors. They would surely recognize her immediately.

Emily blocked the thought out of her head and went to the office. She got there without anyone recognizing her, thank goodness. She got her schedule from the secretary and made her way to her first class, U.S. History. She found the classroom and stepped inside just as the first bell was ringing. She saw the teacher sitting at her desk and most of the students were already in their seats. She refused to look at her classmates in fear they might recognize her. She walked to the teacher and re-introduced herself. Her teacher, Mrs. Johnson, remembered her from her freshman year, and also her sister Serena.

"Glad to have you back Emily. Take a seat anywhere. Class is about to start." Mrs. Johnson said as she gestured to the rows of desks.

Emily finally forced herself to look at her classmates and almost started crying as she saw that Jessica was in her first class. Unluckily for her, so was Sharon, Jessica's best friend and partner in crime. The main crime being making Emily's, and other kids, lives a living hell.

"Oh look Sharon. See who's back? It's little Emily!" Jessica said, loud enough for the entire class to hear.

Sharon screeched with excitement, "Oh it is! This year just keeps getting better and better!"

Emily tried to ignore the stares and laughs from the students and found a seat next to a dark haired girl with glasses and bright green eyes. She set her stuff down on her desk and put her head down, the day was not starting well. Emily sat up with a jump when she felt something sticky hit her in the neck. She turned around to see Travis Manson and his friends laughing with a straw in his hands. Emily wiped the spit ball off her neck with a disgusted look.

"Ewwwh…" Emily muttered as she wiped her hand off on her jeans.

"Class! We're starting. Now can someone please tell me what we discussed last week?" Mrs. Johnson said from the front of the room.

"They'll stop now." said the girl next to Emily.

"Why would they?" Emily whispered back.

"Because Mrs. Johnson is one of the few teachers who won't deal with their bull-shit." the girl whispered.

"Good thing then." Emily muttered.

"I'm Haley by the way." she said.

"I'm Emily. Let me guess, you came within the last two years?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Haley asked confused by Emily's knowledge.

"I'm not really new here. I was here freshman year and part of sophmore, but I had to leave. Let's say I didn't have too many friends. I know you're newer because one, I don't recognize you. Two, if you were here you would know that talking to me is social suicide." Emily huffed.

"Do you think I care what any of these assholes think of me?" Haley said with a smirk.

Emily just smiled back, maybe she had just made a new friend.

***Going Home***

Jayden and Serena were locked in an intense sparring battle. The team wanted to see if Emily was telling the truth about how good Serena was. She wasn't lying. Serena and Jayden had been locked in battle for a good ten minutes. The other rangers were normally lucky when they lasted 5 minutes. But 10 minutes was a new record. Finally though Serena got the upper hand and nailed Jayden in the ribs.

"That was really impressive." Kevin said as he returned outside with a bag of frozen peas for Jayden's side.

"Yeah, where'd you learn to fight like that?" Mia asked curiously.

"Lots and lots of training from my mom." Serena laughed.

"Must have been some intense training, no one has ever beaten Jayden before." Antonio said.

"When your pregnant mother can whoop your ass, it really makes you motivated to win." Serena joked.

Everyone laughed except Mike. He was sure under different circumstances he would have liked Serena just as much as the rest of his team. But because of everything that had happened, Mike was giving Serena the cold shoulder. It wasn't necessarily her fault, but she was the easiest person for Mike to blame, so he did.

Their laughter was interrupted by the blaring of the GAP sensor. Jayden and the team ran inside to see what was happening. They rushed into the common room to see Mentor Ji standing over the table map.

"Nighlock attack at the park. Looks like it could be Serrator, be careful." Mentor said.

The samurai rushed out of the house, following Jayden in the direction of the park. Once they got close they saw people running away and screaming. Sure enough, there was Serrator in the middle of the park, surrounded by an army of moogers. The team morphed as they ran towards him, full force.

"What do you want Serrator?" Jayden yelled at the nighlock.

"I just came out to play! Looks like I have a new play mate though. Where's the little yellow?" Serrator asked mischievously.

"This is no time for games Serrator, you're about to lose!" Jayden yelled as they all rushed into battle.


	11. Explosions

**Chapter Ten: Explosions**

The samurai rangers returned home feeling defeated. Serrator had gotten away, barely. Unfortunately he had already noticed the size difference between Serena and Emily, that meant he knew Emily wasn't with them or wasn't well. That would make her a very easy target. Lucky for them, they avoided revealing Emily's location, keeping her safe for a little while longer.

"Who was that creep?" Serena asked.

Everyone was demorphed, and Jayden just remembered that it was Serena in the suit and not Emily. Serena had no idea who Serrator was or why he already knew the rangers so well, unlike Emily who had faced him a few times before.

"That was Serrator." Jayden answered her.

"Yeah, he's one of the toughest nighlock we've faced. Unfortunately, he's also very smart. We haven't been able to beat him yet." Mia huffed as she dropped down onto the couch next to Kevin.

"Mia's right. I think he has his own agenda. He acts like he's following Xandred but there's definitely something else going on in that twisted head of his." Kevin added.

"How did he know I wasn't Emily though?" Serena asked with a puzzled expression.

"We told you, he's smart. He saw the size difference." Mike said sharply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No need to get all riled up there Mike." Antonio joked with the green ranger.

"I'm not getting riled up!" Mike said as he raised his voice.

"Whatever you say.." Kevin muttered under his breath.

"Whatever." Mike said as he walked off towards the kitchen to get a snack.

Serena looked in the direction of the kitchen, "Maybe I should go talk to him…"

"You leave this one to me amiga." Antonio said as he walked off to talk to Mike.

"Mike really doesn't like me, does he?" Serena asked the remaining rangers in the room.

"He probably just misses Emily. They were really close." Jayden assured her.

"Was there something going on between them, or…?" Serena asked nervously.

"Yes, and no." Mia answered, "We all knew they liked each other. It was obvious. But neither one ever admitted it. Nothing ever really happened."

"Mike was working on it though, up until Emily left. He told me he was going to tell her soon, guess he didn't get the chance." Kevin admitted as he sneaked a look at Mia.

***Going Home***

"What is up with you?" Antonio asked as he stepped into the kitchen.

Mike was digging in the refrigerator for an after battle snack. He angrily slammed the door when he heard Antonio. He turned around and glared at the gold ranger.

"What do you think is up?" Mike asked, or yelled.

Antonio sighed, "Look, Mike, we all know you're upset about Emily. We all are. Trust me, no one wanted to see her go. But you can't take this all out on Serena. This was originally supposed to be her anyways, Emily was always supposed to stay at the farm. Besides, how would Emily feel if she knew you were treating her beloved sister so coldly?" Antonio asked.

Mike sighed. Antonio had a point, it was supposed to be Serena. Emily was never supposed to come to the Shiba house. Plus, she would be really disappointed to see Mike's behavior.

"I guess you're right. But it's just you guys didn't seem like you really cared that Em left.." Mike admitted.

"Of course we cared!" Antonio exclaimed, loud enough for it to be heard from where the others were talking.

"Well it sure as hell doesn't seem that way. As soon as Serena came, it's like you guys totally forgot about Em! How could you guys let her leave?" Mike yelled angrily.

"For the last time Mike, we didn't want her to leave! But she had to go!" Antonio said, now even he was starting to get upset.

"Bull shit!" Mike shouted as he angrily stomped out of the room.

Mia made way for Mike to get through the door as she entered the room, "What happened?!"

***Going Home***

"Oh and Jessica is dating Travis again. They've been on and off for the past year." Haley finally concluded.

She was filling Emily in on all the drama and gossip that had happened since she had left. Emily nodded, trying to wrap her head around all the new information. According to Haley, who was surprisingly very knowledgeable when it came to the latest gossip, Jessica and Sharon still ruled the school, Travis was the most popular boy in school and was constantly followed by his football team buddies, Shelby was the school whore, and if Emily ever needed drugs, Andrew was the guy to see.

"A lot sure can happen in a year or two." Emily said as she picked up a french fry from her lunch tray.

"Most definitely." Haley agreed with a mouthful of hamburger.

Emily and Haley were the only two at that end of the lunch table, and it was fairly obvious to see all the different cliques. They had basically stayed the same since Emily had left, but a few things had changed. For one, there was a noticeable change in the amount of students. It seemed Emily's small town had grown a bit. On the plus side, that meant more students for Emily to blend in with. So far she had avoided most of the bullies, and the ones that had seen her hadn't done too much. Unfortunately, that was about to change.

"Oh look, crybaby Emy finally found a friend!" Jessica said as she laughed with Sharon at her own joke as they approached.

"Oh shut up Jessica. We all know you cried at homecoming when Travis broke up with you, again." Haley said with a smirk.

"I did not!" Jessica defended herself, "Anyways, did Emily tell you where she was while she was gone?" Jessica teased.

"Boarding school, what's the big deal?" Haley asked.

"Is that what you're calling it Emily? Well, it does sound better than being sent away because you're parents don't want you, little bitch." Jessica said.

"I thought you said she got pregnant and her parents didn't want to be seen with a whore?" Sharon asked.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Either way her parents didn't want her." Jessica laughed, quickly followed by Sharon's laughter.

Emily's eyes started tearing up. Not only was she accused of being a pregnant whore, but she was also being told her parents didn't want her. It hurt Emily like they couldn't imagine.

Haley saw Emily's face and stood up in the cafeteria so she was standing face to face with Jessica, "Listen here, you and I both know those are lies. So go and sit with your little 'posse' and leave us the hell alone."

Jessica stepped back, shocked that someone had actually stood up to her.

"I will have you know.." Jessica started.

"I don't care! Just go be a bitch somewhere else, please!" Haley yelled loud enough for the entire student body to hear.

Jessica gasped. She grabbed Sharon's arm and dragged her away towards their lunch table. Sharon still looked confused, but had enough smarts to stay quiet.

"Don't worry, I know that isn't true. Jessica is just a brat." Haley turned her head back towards Emily after making sure Jessica and Sharon had made it back to their own table.

Sometime during the fight, Emily had put her head down on the table, too ashamed to look at anyone. But now she lifted her head, and Haley saw the tears that were coming down her face. She frowned and grabbed Emily's hand in hers.

"It's okay. Everyone knows they're liars. No one will believe a word they say." Haley said as she again tried to comfort Emily.

"Thank you." was all Emily said.

Haley sighed, "You're welcome. Now come on, you said you have free period next right?"

Emily slowly nodded her head.

"Come on then, let's get out of this hell hole." Haley said as she grabbed Emily's arm and pulled her out of the building.

***Going Home***

Serrator stood before Xandred as he drank his medicine. Octeroo wasn't standing far away, and Dayu was sitting on a crate in the corner strumming her Harmonium.

"I have some news for you." Serrator told Master Xandred.

"What is it? If it isn't important I don't want to hear it, I have a headache!" Master Xandred yelled angrily.

"The yellow ranger, she has been replaced." Serrator explained.

"What?" Xandred exclaimed.

"There is a new ranger in the suit. That means the former yellow ranger is vulnerable." Serrator explained further.

"Octeroo, you know what this means. Get some moogers ready, now!" Master Xandred yelled at his servant.

"Oo-ah-oo! Will do!" Octeroo said as he scurried away.


	12. Secret Hide-Out

**Chapter Eleven: Secret Hide-Out**

"Haley! Where the heck are we?" Emily asked as Haley dragged her through yet another farmer's field.

"Chill! We're almost there." Haley assured her new friend.

Emily grunted. She had been a samurai for about a year, but even so she could say she had never been this tired from walking in her life. But that was probably due to the fact that the sun was burning down and had been for quiet some time.

"Look! I can see it from here!" Haley exclaimed excitedly as she pointed at a small shed in the distance.

"What is 'it' exactly?" Emily asked worriedly.

"You'll see when we get there! Hurry up slowpoke!" Haley yelled behind her as she took off running towards the shed.

***Going Home***

"Serena, can I talk to you for a sec?" Mike asked her in the common room.

Jayden and Mentor were in his study discussing the Serena/Emily issue, Mia was talking to Antonio in the kitchen, and Kevin was in his room, doing who knows what. That left Serena alone in the common room, with no excuse to not talk to Mike. Not that Serena didn't like him, but his behavior towards her didn't seem exactly friendly.

"Uhm, sure. I guess.." Serena said uneasily.

"I won't yell at you. I won't get angry, promise." Mike said, taking a seat across from Serena.

"Okay. Well what did you want to say?" Serena asked, she was getting more nervous by the second, very unlike her.

"I wanted to apologize. I've been a dick to you, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you. You didn't do anything wrong." Mike apologized.

"I forgive you. I would have been mad in your position too. Especially considering you have a thing for my sister?" Serena teased.

"Awh shit. I was that obvious?" Mike asked with a laugh.

"Yes." Serena laughed along.

"Well, this is awkward then. Are you mad, gonna beat me up?" Mike asked. He was suddenly afraid of the older samurai. Not only was she a fantastic samurai considering her years of bed rest, but she was Emily's sister, older sister.

"I won't beat you up! Promise!" Serena said with a laugh, "Just you promise me one thing?" Serena's voice suddenly went serious.

"Anything." Mike said.

"If something does happen between you two, don't hurt her? She's gonna kill me for telling you this, but she doesn't exactly have much experience with guys." Serena confessed.

Mike chuckled, "What do you mean?" He was aware of Emily's past, she had shared stories of the bullies with him a few times. But he had always assumed that with a pretty face like hers, atleast a few guys must have liked her.

"Emily has never had a boyfriend. You are the first guy to ever express an interest in her." Serena explained.

"Are you serious?" Mike asked disbelievingly.

"Dead serious." Serena assured him.

"Well, while I process this horribly shocking information, I think I am going to talk to Jayden. I have to ask him something." Mike said as he slowly walked out of the room, head still spinning.

"Don't tell her I told you!" Serena called after him.

Mike turned around before yelling back, "As long as you don't tell her how big a dick I was to you!"

***Going Home***

Emily and Haley finally made it to shed in the middle of the field. Emily looked around as Haley hunted for the matches she swore were 'just right there'. Since the light was off, she couldn't see much, but enough light was coming through the windows that Emily could have a look around.

The shed looked much smaller from the outside but she noticed on the inside it was actually pretty spacious. There were two small windows on opposite sides. One window was still partially boarded up, but the other was completely open allowing light inside.

The shed looked hand made. It was made entirely out of wood and even the furniture seemed to be hand made. In the corner was a small couch with old worn out pillows crowded on it and a quilt draped on the side. In front of that was a small wooden coffee table with a few candles on top and a home made rug sitting under it. Near the window that light could actually get through, was a bookshelf. It was filled with books about what Emily guessed was close to every topic. Along with books, there were even more candles, and even a few empty food wrappers and soda cans.

"Ah ha!" Haley exclaimed as she lit a candle on the coffee table.

"What is this place?" Emily asked as she more closely inspected the small shed.

"I don't know, but it's old, abandoned, and all mine. Well, I guess it's ours now." Haley said with a pleased smile.

"How'd you find it?" Emily asked as she dusted off a few books and skimmed through the pages.

"I love exploring. One day I was coming out here and saw it. I went inside and decided that with a bit of work, it could look awesome. When I first got here it was filled with dusty old farm equipment. But I cleaned everything out, got some old furniture, and viola!" Haley said happily.

"Wow." was all Emily could say as she looked at the hand sewn pillows crowding the couch.

Haley nodded, "I know. I used to come out here all the time when I needed to think, or to focus, or just to get away from all this high school shit."

"So why are you showing it to me? We basically just met today." Emily asked as she turned to look at Haley.

"Hmm.. Let's say I had a feeling. I could tell you aren't one of those fake, plastic bitches who only care about themselves. You're different. And besides, it looked like you needed a friend." Haley explained.

"Thanks." Emily said with a smile.

"For what?" Haley asked.

"Being my friend." Emily replied.

"No problem. I know what it's like to be picked on. Kids used to pick on me all the time, nonstop. It really hurt. I know how much I needed a friend." said Haley.

"So what happened?" Emily asked curiously.

"One day some kids were bullying me, and I realized something. If I treat myself badly, they'll treat me badly. I needed to stand up for myself because I deserved it. I hadn't done anything to those kids. Ever since, I stood up for myself, and I don't let anyone hurt me." Haley said smiling.

Emily ran over immediately and gave Haley one of her famous hugs.

***Going Home***

Mike knocked on Jayden's door nervously. No one was supposed to disturb Jayden and Mentor when they were talking. It was an unspoken rule. But this was an emergency, and Mike needed to talk to them both.

"What is it Mike?" Jayden asked as he opened up the door.

"Can I ask you something?" Mike said.

"Sure, go ahead." Jayden said impatiently.

"Do you think she'll be safe?" Mike asked.

"Who? Serena? Mike, I know she was sick, but Serena is a really tough samurai and I think…" Jayden stopped when Mike interrupted him.

"No, not Serena. I'm talking about Emily. The nighlock know she isn't with us. Is she safe?" Mike asked again.

"I'm sure she'll be fine Mike. The nighlock have no reason to go after Emily, they won't bother. Even if they do, she's out in the country. They'll never find her out there." Jayden said as tried to close his door.

Mentor suddenly appeared beside the red ranger, "Don't worry Mike. We'll make sure she's safe. But I highly doubt the nighlock will come looking for her."

Mike sighed. He wasn't sure Jayden and Mentor totally understood what he was trying to say, but it had given him a little hope. Jayden was right. The nighlock had no need to go after Emily. And she was in the middle of no where, they couldn't find her if they tried.

***Going Home***

Back in the netherworld, Xandred was still stuck on his boat in the middle of the Sanzu river. He still had has killer headaches, and everyone else was paying for it.

"Master! Ooh-ah-ooh! I have done what you wanted me to do." Octeroo scurried towards Xandred.

"Good. Serrator, make sure you find the girl. I don't want you to come back without finding her. Once you do, report back to me." Xandred commanded Serrator.

"Of course Master Xandred." Serrator said with an evil grin.

Serrator transported through a gap in the ship and disappeared. When he got into the human world, he found himself in Paranorma city. He was outside Emily's favorite cupcake shop.

"Now, if I was the yellow ranger, where would I hide?" Serrator muttered, making his way through the crowds of screaming people.


	13. The Impact of Words

**Author's Note: Hey ya'll! I just wanted to take a moment to apologize that I haven't exactly been consistent with my updating. I'm trying, but it's harder than you think. Anyways, I just wanted to thank all of you for being patient and reviewing and all that jazz. So thanks, and try to enjoy this next chapter! Xoxox**

**Warning: Okay, so this chapter is gonna have a bit more language than usual. Nothing explicit, but just thought I would warn you.**

**Chapter Twelve: The Impact of Words  
**

Emily arrived home from school feeling better than when she had left. She was still worried about her bullies, knowing they hadn't forgotten her, but now she had a friend. Haley and Emily had spent the rest of the school day in the secret shed and talked. Emily told Haley about her samurai friends, leaving out the fact they were the power rangers. She had even spilled the fact that she had the biggest crush on Mike, even though she was almost positive he would never feel the same way for her.

Emily walked up to her room and managed to avoid her parents. Her new laptop was still sitting on the desk so Emily decided to see if Mike could talk. Although she knew it was best to forget about her samurai friends for now she had to tell Mike about her first day back at school.

Emily frowned when she saw that he wasn't online. She checked to make sure everything was working, but it still showed that Mike couldn't talk. Emily reluctantly shut her laptop, then opened it back up. Still no Mike.

Emily shut her laptop once again and dragged herself downstairs into the kitchen. It seemed Emily's parents had been waiting for her, but Emily ignored it. She walked over to the fridge and searched for something good to eat.

"How was your first day back, sweetheart?" Tracy asked her daughter.

"Oh, fine." Emily replied, spending her sweet time inspecting everything in the refrigerator. Soon enough though she gave up on the fridge and she walked to the kitchen cabinets to try her luck there.

"Did anyone remember you?" Byron asked.

"Yes." Emily said hoping they would drop the subject.

"Oh, well than. Make any new friends?" Byron tried.

"One." Emily said. She had hoped her parents wouldn't ask, but unfortunately luck had not been on her side lately.

"Well that's good. Honey, do you mind if your father and I head out to town for a few errands? We have some things we need to get." Tracy asked Emily.

"That's fine. Will you be home for dinner?" Emily questioned.

"I don't know. We'll give you a call when we know. C'mon Byron, let's go before it gets late." Tracey said as she urged her husband out of his chair and into the entryway.

"Bye sweetie! Call if you need anything!" Tracey called as she and her husband walked out the front door.

"Bye guys." Emily said halfheartedly. She loved her parents, but at times she wished they wouldn't ask so many questions about her life.

Emily finally decided on eating a granola bar and walked into the living room. She turned on their ancient tv and flipped through their 15 channels. Out in the country, she didn't have much technology that worked. It was times like this when she really missed the Shiba house.

She was finally getting into her show when Emily heard a knock at the front door. Emily hesitantly got up from her spot on the recliner and walked over to the window. She looked outside and saw no one there. She went to the front door and opened it to see no one standing there. Emily looked down and picked up a bouquet of flowers. She smiled before seeing the note attached. She picked it up and read it before throwing the flowers to the ground and running to her room crying.

"_So sorry about the abortion, at least we won't have to deal with another ugly whore like you!"_ the note attached to the flowers kept replaying in Emily's head. The kids had said some horrible and nasty things to her in the past, but Emily was convinced her time away had made things ten times worse.

***Going Home***

"Mike hurry up! We have to go! There's a nighlock attack! It looks likes Serrator is back!" Mia called for the green ranger.

"But Em should be getting home any minute! I need to talk to her!" Mike complained.

"There's no time. You'll have time when we get back!" Jayden yelled.

Mike grunted and reluctantly followed his team mates out the door. The gap sensor had sounded moments before and everyone was already rushing out.

By the time the samurai finally got to the location they were thoroughly confused. They looked around and while they saw no humans around, there were also no signs of a Nighlock attack. Things were eerily quiet.

"Uh guys? Anyone else notice something wrong with this picture?" Serena asked.

"Where's the nighlock?" Kevin wondered out loud.

"The gap sensor said he was right here.." Jayden said, very confused by the situation.

"Amigo, I hate to break it to you but it's not here." Antonio said.

"You don't think I know that Antonio?" Jayden snapped.

"Jayden, calm down." Mia tried to sooth him.

"Well this was a waste of time. I could be talking to Emily right now." Mike complained.

"I'm calling Ji. Something isn't right here." Jayden said.

"_Ji. It's Jayden. There's no nighlock here. What happened?"_

"_I don't know, Jayden. The gap sensor appears to be working properly. Maybe the nighlock left?"_

"_That doesn't sound right. We're on our way home. We need to figure this out though."  
_

"_I agree. I'll call some people and see if I can find anything out."_

Jayden hung up the phone and looked to his team, "Let's go home guys."

***Going Home***

Mike rushed to his room as soon as soon as he got home. He closed and locked the door then went and sat at the desk. He opened up the computer and looked to see if Emily was available. The computer said she was, so he video called her and waited for her to answer.

Finally Emily answered, but it was not what Mike was expecting. Her eyes were red and puffy, and tears were coming down her face.

"Em! What's wrong?!" Mike asked worriedly.

"This!" Emily exclaimed as she held up the paper for Mike to see.

Mike read it once, twice, three times to make sure he read it right. It took a moment to get over the shock, but when he finally did he spoke.

"They think you were pregnant and got an abortion?" Mike asked disbelievingly.

"Yes!" Emily sobbed.

"What ass-holes! I am going to kill them!" Mike screamed.

"And today at lunch," Emily hiccupped "Jessica called me a bitch and a slut. I didn't even do anything!" Emily sobbed even harder.

"Don't worry Em. She's just jealous of you. You and I both know those are dirty rotten lies. I'm sure everyone else does too." Mike tried to comfort her. But on the inside Mike had to keep himself from exploding with rage. If it wasn't for his samurai duties he would have driven down to the country and beaten the living daylights out of anyone who said one bad word about Emily.

Emily continued crying though, and though Mike tried, he couldn't get her to stop.

"C'mon Em, don't cry. Her opinion doesn't matter, it's not like you need her approval." Mike said.

"But if she doesn't like me no one else will!" Emily wailed.

"You have to have made atleast on friend?" Mike tried.

"One, her name's Haley." Emily explained.

"Well that's good then. Just don't listen to those other people. They're liars and they're only jealous of you. Don't they always say to surround yourself with people who build you up, not drag you down?" Mike said.

"Yeah. Thanks Mike." Emily said with a slight smile.

"Anytime Em." Mike said.

"So how are things with you?" Emily asked, wiping the tears from her face.

"Oh, okay. We've been missing you. And Serrator has got us all a bit worried." Mike said.

"What happened?" Emily asked.

"He kind of found out that you and Serena switched. And today the gap sensor went off, but there was no nighlock there." Mike explained.

"That's really weird…" Emily started.

"You bet. Everyone else is trying to figure it out, we actually just got back." Mike explained.

"Why aren't you helping them?" Emily asked curiously.

Mike grinned sheepishly, "Well I wanted to talk to you, so I raced in here as soon as we got back."

Emily grinned, "Well now we've talked. So why don't you go help them out. We'll talk later. They need you, the world needs you to figure this out."

"I guess you're right. You gonna be okay?" Mike sighed.

"I'll be fine in a bit. I'll call Haley and talk to her if I need someone. So get down there and help. Bye Mike!" Emily said.

"Bye Em!" replied Mike, the next part slipped out before Mike could stop it, "Love you."

Emily blushed madly before turning off her video camera. Mike sat for a moment shocked at what he had let slip out. He had imagined the moment he told her he loved her millions of times. Over and over again he had played every scenario. Somehow though this wasn't one of them.

"Oh, shit." Mike said. A few moments later Serena started knocking at his door.

"Mike! We need you!" Serena called from the other side.

Mike tried to forget about what he had said to Emily and opened the door. He looked both ways down the hallway and then gestured for her to come inside. Serena reluctantly stepped into his room before Mike slammed the door shut.

"Mike what is going on.." Serena started before she was interrupted.

"I need to tell you something, it's really important." Mike gushed.

"What?" Serena asked, suddenly worried.

"It's about Emily. She had her first day back at school today." Mike said.

"Dammit Mike. Why didn't you let me talk to her?" Serena scolded.

"Right now it doesn't matter. But I think things are getting worse for her there." Mike confessed. After all, Emily had never told him _not_ to tell. She just hadn't given him permission _to_ tell.

"What do you mean worse? What happened?" Serena said, going into protective older sister mode.

"Some stupid kids. They started a rumour, it's actually really dumb if you think about it…" Mike started to get off track.

"Michael, just spit it out already!" Serena urged him.

"Some kid, I think she said Jessica, started some nasty rumor that she got an abortion. That's why she was gone so long. She left a note for Emily saying 'Sorry about the abortion! Atleast we won't have to deal with another ugly whore like you.' or something like that. Then she called her some rude names." Mike said.

Serena's face went red and Mike swore he saw smoke coming out from her ears.

"That little bitch!" Serena exclaimed angrily.

"I know. But there's nothing we can do. I just thought you should know."

"Damn right I should know. That little brat Jessica is lucky I'm not there. Gosh, I am going to hurt that child when I get my hands on her…" Serena said.

***Going Home***

"Xandred. I have done what you asked." Serrator said as he arrived back on Master Xandred's ship in the Netherworld.

"Good. You found the girl?" Xandred shouted as he slurped down more Sanzu water with Octeroo faithfully be his side.

"Of course I did. I even enlisted some human help for the job. This child should be very easy to bring down." Serrator smirked evilly.

"Good. Now get back out there. The sooner we bring the former yellow ranger down, the better." Xandred commanded.


	14. Rumors and Theories

**Chapter Thirteen: Rumors and Theories**

Mike sat on his bed that night deep in thought. His mind was thinking of two things. One was why the gap sensor had gone off but no nighlock was found. The other thing on Mike's mind was what he would tell Emily the next time they talked. He had no excuse as to why he said that besides the truth. He would have to tell her how he felt the next time they talked.

Not only would he have to explain his feelings, but he would have to explain a nighlock was possibly out to get her. After the team had thought about it for a bit, they decided the only logical explanation was that a nighlock had appeared but immediately left through another gap. It was decided that the only reason this would happen is if the nighlock was looking for something, more specifically someone. After hours of brainstorming they could only think of one person the nighlock could possibly want besides the current samurai rangers: Emily.

So it was in everyone's best interest to tell Emily. Unfortunately Mike was given the task of telling her because they were the closest, much to Mia and Serena's dismay.

Mike had tried to tell Jayden that somehow else should tell her, but no argument had worked. He would have to talk to Emily and soon. Something Mike, for the first time, was not looking forward to.

So Mike sat on his bed late and night and wondered how he would explain the situation of the nighlock and his feelings for her. Soon though he passed out from exhaustion and laid down to sleep.

***Going Home***

"Morning Haley!" Emily said happily as she walked over to her seat in her first class of the next day.

Although the past day had been rough, Emily had to look at the bright side of things. She had made a new friend and Mike had told her he loved her. At first it had been a very big shock. But as the shock wore off Emily could not remove the smile from her face. Finally the boy she had been crushing on for almost a year had told her he liked her back. She could only hope that he had meant it though and it wasn't some huge mistake. But Emily, being Emily, decided to think positive on the matter and assumed he had meant what he said.

"Someone is rather happy this morning." Haley commented as Emily sat beside her.

"Very.." Emily said with a smile.

"Oh! I forgot I had something to tell you!" Haley said excitedly.

"I have something to tell you too!" Emily said.

"Me first. Do you remember yesterday when I was telling you about that guy on the soccer team who actually isn't a dick?" Haley asked.

"Alex right? You said he was the only 'cool' guy who you approved of?" Emily asked.

"Yeah! That one. Well I so happened to talk to him yesterday, and you somehow came into the conversation." Haley started.

"Oh gosh.." Emily sighed nervously.

"He told me he thinks you're cute!" Haley said happily.

"Doesn't he know who I am? Social reject? Loser? Alleged whore?" Emily asked.

"I told you he's actually nice. He doesn't really care about the whole popularity thing." Haley was practically jumping in her seat.

Emily smiled halfheartedly.

"What's wrong? Cute boy thinks you're cute!" Haley repeated.

"Nothing's wrong. Actually something is right. It's what I was going to tell you." Emily said.

"Hmm.. What?" Haley asked curiously.

"You remember Mike, the boy I was telling you about?" Emily asked.

"The one you have the biggest crush on?" Haley confirmed.

"Yeah, that one. So we were talking last night. He said he loved me." Emily could not contain the smile on her face.

Haley broke out in a grin along with her friend, "I am so happy for you! What'd you say after he told you? I want _all_ the details!"

"After? Well I hung up on him." Emily blushed.

Haley's jaw dropped, "You what?! Why?"

"Well I wasn't expecting him to say it! He had to go so I said goodbye, then he said 'Bye Emily! Love you.' and then I got nervous and hung up right away." Emily said embarrassed.

"Gosh Emily. I have so much to teach you about boys.." Haley said.

Emily turned around to see Travis Manson again with his football buddies laughing. She didn't know what about, but she knew it couldn't be good.

"What are you laughing at?" Haley asked when she noticed Emily looking at the boys behind them.

Travis stopped laughing for a moment to explain, "You? Giving _her_ advice on guys? If she can get pregnant, I think she knows how to act around guys." Travis and his friends continued laughing.

Emily bent her head down and refused to make eye contact when Haley looked at her. What Travis said reminded her about the note and flowers she had received from Jessica the day before. She hadn't had the chance to tell Haley yet, but she had been planning to tell her at lunch.

"She did not get pregnant!" Haley screeched at Travis and his friends.

"That's not what Jessica said." one of Travis's friends, Emily remembered his name was Marcus, called.

"Haley, I need to tell you something." Emily told her, trying to get Haley to stop talking to the boys. She needed to tell Haley about the note sometime, and then was as good a time as any.

"What?" Haley asked as she finally turned around in her seat to face Emily.

"Yesterday Jessica left a note and flowers on my porch. Here." Emily said and handed Jessica the note that was attached to the flowers.

Haley read it before standing up from her chair, "That bitch is going down."

"Haley! Wait!" Emily called after her and got up to follow her to where Jessica was seated.

"Yeah buddy! Cat fight!" Travis yelled from the back. All of his friends burst into laughter.

"Jessica, I am getting real tired of your shit." Haley declared once she was standing beside her desk.

Thankfully Mrs. Johnson was out of the room, probably getting her morning coffee. But at this moment, Emily wished she was in the classroom. She could break up this fight before it started, if only.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jessica said with a smirk.

"Yeah, she doesn't know what you're talking about." Sharon added.

"Of course you know. I know about the rumors you've spread, I know about the flowers you left Emily, and I know you've been a major bitch to her." Haley announced loudly.

At this point the entire class was watching the exchange between Haley and Jessica. It made Emily feel uncomfortable as she tried to blend into the background.

"Haley, darling, I think you're mistaken." Jessica said in her snotty voice.

"Yeah, mistaken!" Sharon emphasized.

"Sharon, shut up. Please" Jessica said sounding very annoyed.

"I'm not mistaken. You are. Just watch your back Jessica, cause soon you'll get what's coming to you." Haley threatened.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?!" Jessica screeched.

"Girls, sit down. Class has started." Mrs. Johnson said as she entered the room with her coffee.

"You know what it means Jessica, so be careful." Haley said as she went back to her seat with Emily close behind.

After a few minutes had past Emily threw a wadded up paper at Haley. Haley unraveled it and saw something was written on it.

'_Why did u do that?'_

Haley grabbed her pen and wrote a response before tossing it back at Emily.

'_No 1 gets away w/ hurting my friends :)'_

Emily smiled and looked over at Haley who was giving her a thumbs up. She smiled again, shook her head, and tucked the note away in her binder.

***Going Home***

While Mike was still asleep as a result of staying up so late, everyone else was gathered in the kitchen eating breakfast. They had thought about waking Mike, but had decided against it. Mike was still upset with over half of the team and the only people he was speaking to were Serena, Kevin, and barely Jayden. So in the end they let him sleep and hoped when he woke up and he would be calm.

"So do you guys seriously think the nighlock could be after my sister?" Serena asked everyone who was awake.

There was a moment of silence. Each second felt like hours for Serena. Finally though Jayden responded.

"It's very possible." He said.

"That's what I was afraid of.." Serena sighed.

"But we don't know for a fact they are." Mia added.

"There is a decent chance though." Kevin said before he was nudged in the ribs by Mia.

"Not helping." Mia whispered to him. Kevin just shrugged and turned his attention back to the conversation.

"I still just don't get why." Serena thought out loud.

"Emily's vulnerable. She's out in the country without much protection. It does make her a pretty easy target. The nighlock are going to play dirty to win. I have to admit, it would be smart for them to go after Emily." Jayden replied.

"Jayden, please can we go out there? I need to make sure my sister is okay. I want to see for myself that she's okay and there are no nighlocks out there." Serena begged the red ranger.

"I don't know Serena. We can't just all get up and leave. We would be leaving the city wide open." Jayden said hesitantly.

"Please! Just send me and Mike then! We can go check on her and you guys will still be here to protect the city!" Serena begged once again.

"I'll think about it." Jayden said as he stood up from the table and walked to his room.


	15. Middle of the Night

**Author's Note: Well, uhm, I apologize for not updating in forever. But I have come to a realization. I am literally one of the worst people at updating it's actually sad. Normally I'd be all "I'll try to update more often I promise!" but that's probably not gonna happen so I don't want to get your hopes up and break a promise. Anyways long story short, I've been busy. Which is really no excuse but it's all I've got. Also I have literally no idea where this story is going. So yeah. That's also not helped. So, uhm this chapter is kinda bad, so sorry. HOPEFULLY I shall be doing some Megaforce stuff sooon! So look out for that, and yeah. Enjoy! XOXOX**

**Chapter Fourteen: Middle of the Night**

Later that day, after Serena explained her proposal about her sister to Mike, Jayden called Serena into his room. Serena had her hopes up high, and was anxiously awaiting Jayden's decision about the farm and Emily. Unfortunately for her, he was rambling on and on.

"And that's why this isn't an easy decision. You know that, right Serena?" Jayden asked, snapping Serena out of her thoughts.

Serena blinked a few times, then nodded her head.

"That's why I have to tell you no. We can't leave the city, and I can't permit you and Mike to leave either. I'm sorry." Jayden said.

"But Jayden!" Serena protested.

"But nothing. My decision is final. Now c'mon, it's almost time for evening training." Jayden said as he pointed Serena towards the door.

Serena reluctantly walked out of the room and towards the dojo. Once there, she went straight to Mike.

"So what'd he say?" Mike asked anxiously.

"He said no." Serena answered.

"But.." Mike started.

"He may have said no, but we're still going." Serena said with a smirk.

"How?" Mike asked curiously.

"We're sneaking out, tonight, so be ready at two am. We're going to see my baby sister." Serena smiled.

***Going Home***

Mike heard his alarm go off and quickly jumped out of bed. It was 15 minutes before he and Serena were supposed to leave and he still had to pack. He didn't know how long they would stay or what they would need so Mike packed a few pairs of clothes and his favourite video game. Once he was done he slipped his backpack on and slid out of his room. He gently shut the door, careful not to wake a sleeping Kevin.

Mike made his way towards the common room to wait for Serena. It was now almost two, and Mike was certain they'd be leaving soon. As if on cue, Serena stepped out of the hallway and into Mike's vision.

"We ready to go?" Mike whispered as he approached her.

"Almost. I just have to drop this note off in Jayden's room and then we can head out." Serena replied quietly.

"Can't we just leave the note on the table? I'm sure the others will find it." Mike questioned.

"I'll be right back, stay here and don't do anything to wake anyone up." Serena said, avoiding the topic as she tip toed back down the hallway.

She silently got to Jayden's room and opened the door as quietly as she could. It was times like these Serena wished she was trained as a ninja instead of a samurai.

Once she was inside she made her way to Jayden's bed. She looked down at her sleeping leader and instantly felt a pang of guilt. Serena knew this was a direct defiance of orders but she felt she had to do it. If she didn't go she couldn't be sure her baby sister was safe from the Nighlock.

Snapping herself from her thoughts of guilt, Serena placed the note explaining where Mike and herself left on Jayden's bedside table. She leaned down and gave Jayden a kiss on the cheek before whispering an apology.

When Jayden was sure Serena was gone he opened his eyes. He had awoken when he heard his door open and had the sense to pretend he was sleeping. Now he had two choices. He could either drag Serena and Mike back then punish them for disobeying, or he could let them go and pretend he had no idea they snuck off during the night.

After a few minutes of deliberation, he decided it would be best to let them go. If he dragged them back they would only get angry, and possibly try again. It would be easier to let the two leave and come back once they were sure Emily was safe. His only concern was that Emily may not be safe.

But Jayden pushed the thought to the back of his mind and lay his head back down onto his pillow. He let out a sigh and tried to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. After all his tossing and turning though he realized something.

"I will not be getting much sleep tonight." he mumbled.

***Going Home***

"Psst! Mike wake up." Serena hissed at the sleeping green ranger.

Mike woke with a jump and immediately got up to his feet. He stumbled for a minute before finding his balance.

"Sorry, but it's two in the morning and I'm usually sleeping. You were taking awhile." Mike explained.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just go before we get caught." Serena whispered and headed towards the door.

The first few minutes of walking were silent, as neither wanted to make any noise to alert anyone of their leaving. Also, neither knew what to say. They shared a common goal, to see Emily, but they were still practically strangers.

"So are we walking the whole way or what?" Mike asked once he was sure they were far enough away to not be heard.

"No. I figured we could walk into the city and catch the bus."

"Oh, okay. So tell me, how long will it take to get there again?"

"About an hour or two."

"And what will we do when we show up on your doorstep at 4 o' clock in the morning?"

Serena turned around to look at Mike when she realized he had a point. She hadn't yet thought of where they would stay or for how long. She also didn't think of the fact that by running away in the night, they would get there before the sun rose.

"Well…" Serena said as she tried to think of a good answer.

"You have no idea do you?" Mike asked, reading her mind.

"Not a clue."

"Sounds good to me." Mike smiled as he continued walking towards the bus stop.


	16. Break Her

**Author's Note: Okay, I don't know how but somehow I wrote this pretty easily. So I really want to make up for my lack of updates, so HERE YA GO. Review, enjoy, tell me what you want to happen or anything I can improve. XOXOX**

**Chapter Fifteen: Break Her**

Serena nudged Mike awake with her elbow. It was now just past 3:30 in the morning. Mike had fallen asleep almost immediately after they got onto the bus. Serena though had stayed awake worrying about what danger Emily could possibly be in. She knew there was a chance that nothing was wrong. But there was also a chance she was in trouble. After being sick and having to pass down her samuraizer, the last thing Serena wanted was for Emily to be in danger. Unfortunately, by replacing Emily she had done exactly that. Serena hadn't thought of the target she would be putting on Emily by sending her back home. After all she could have just asked Antonio to make another samuraizer and they both could have stayed. That also would have meant keeping Emily with her friends, who Serena knew cared for her deeply. But she hadn't thought of it, and now Emily was a target for the Nighlock she was supposed to be destroying.

"Are we there?" Mike mumbled after being awoken from his slumber.

"Kind of."

"What does that mean?" Mike asked, confused by her reply.

"We're almost at the bus station, but from there we need to walk to my farm." Serena explained.

"Are you kidding me? I hate exercise.."

"Do you want to see Emily or not? Because I have no problem sending you on another bus back."

"Shutting up now."

Serena leaned back in her seat and waited for this long trip to be over. She couldn't wait to see her sister, and to be far away from the green ranger.

When they finally arrived at the bus station Serena grabbed her bag and hopped off the train, quickly followed by Mike. Serena stepped off the platform and headed towards her farm. The sky was still dark, not surprisingly, and the stars and moon were still shining, giving Serena and Mike just enough light to walk.

"So about how far a walk is your farm?" Mike asked after a few seconds of quiet.

"Only about fifteen minutes if we cut through the fields." replied Serena.

Mike let out a grunt and threw his head back in frustration. This was way too early for him to be exercising. Plus, Serena's fast paced walking was doing nothing to help.

"So, uhm, how long will we be staying?" Mike asked.

"As long as we need to."

"But what about the others? We can't just leave them in the city to face the Nighlock without us."

Serena stopped in her tracks and turned around so she was facing the green ranger. Mike skidded to a stop right in front of her.

"No more questions, no more talking, not until we get back to my farm. Got it?" Serena asked while pointing her finger in Mike's face.

Mike nervously nodded his head yes and let out a sigh of relief when Serena turned back around and kept walking. He didn't want to admit it, but he was terrified of the older yellow. She was threatening and very intimidating. Mike was sure it was only because she was anxious to see Emily, but it was still scary. Which was why he was so confused. Emily couldn't scare anyone, not with her innocent face and kind heart. Which seemed like the exact opposite of Serena at the moment.

Serena and Emily were nothing alike. Emily was kind, caring, and quiet. While Mike didn't doubt Serena could be kind and caring, at this time it seemed she was only capable of being cold and threatening. But Mike shrugged it off and kept walking. He was sure he could see a small home in the distance with a few lights on inside and desperately wished it was Emily's home.

When Serena turned towards it and started walking, Mike broke out into a sprint. He had been on this journey for hours and he couldn't wait to reach his destination. As soon as Serena saw Mike running she ran too. Before she knew it they were both out of breath and standing on her porch. Serena and Mike both looked at each other, silently debating what to do.

Serena finally shrugged her shoulders and opened the door. It was unlocked. Serena quietly tiptoed inside with Mike behind her. She made her way to the kitchen and looked at the time, it was 4:07 in the morning. Before she could even think what to do, Mike and Serena heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Serena stepped out of the kitchen to see who was coming down. When she could make out Emily's figure, she gestured to Mike to stay hidden. He nodded his head, irritated he couldn't race to meet Emily and see her.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Emily asked, her voice shaky as she went down the stairs.

"Surprise!" Serena said as she gave her sister a big hug.

It took a moment for the shock to wear off, but when it did Emily wrapped her arms around her older sister. She hadn't gotten to talk to her except once for five minutes, and she was happy her sister was home.

"What are you doing here?" Emily said happily.

"What do you think? I came to see my baby sister!" Serena said.

She released Emily from the hug, "I also brought another surprise, regrettably."

"What do you- Mike!" Emily exclaimed when she recognized Mike standing in the doorway to the dark kitchen.

Emily raced over and wrapped her arms around the green ranger. Mike happily hugged her back and held her close. He had missed her at the Shiba house. He was also glad that things didn't seem to be awkward between them. He was still beating himself up over saying letting his feelings for her slip out.

When Mike finally let her go Emily dragged her sister and Mike into the kitchen and flipped on the lights. She pulled out a chair and sat down. When Mike and Serena stood in the doorway in shock, Emily looked to them puzzlingly.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked.

"Em, what's that on your face?" Mike asked worriedly.

Emily reached up and touched her face, confused as to what they were talking about it. That's when she remembered. She had a large blue and purple bruise on her face, on her left eye and part of her cheek. Travis and his football friends had missed having someone to beat up on, and decided to make up for lost time. Emily had told her parents that she slipped and had bruised her face by accident. They seemed to believe it, so Emily hadn't gone into the details. From the look on Mike and Serena's faces though, it seemed they wanted to know _everything._

"Oh, this little thing? I slipped and fell, no big deal. It'll heal up pretty soon." Emily tried to brush it off.

"Emy that doesn't look like you fell. What happened?" Serena asked.

"I told you, I fell and bruised it." Emily said.

"Emily, tell me what really happened." Serena said sternly.

"Some stupid kid, it's no big deal Serena I promise! It doesn't even hurt that bad." Emily tried to tell her.

"Emily half of your face is black, it's a big damn deal!" Serena said angrily.

"Serena calm down." Mike said as he went as kneeled next to Emily. He wrapped his arms around her comfortingly as she let a few tears slip from her swollen eyes.

"I'm sorry." Emily sobbed as she hid her face away in Mike's shoulder. He gently rubbed circles on her back as he tried to sooth her.

Serena walked out of the room and out the front door before she lost it. She knew Emily had been bullied in the past and she knew Jessica was beating up on her know. But she hadn't expected it to get so bad again so fast.

"It's okay. It's not your fault, Serena isn't mad at you. She's made at the punk who thought they could hurt you." Mike said softly as Emily continued crying.

***Going Home***

"You need to _break_ her." Dekker said to Jessica. They were standing a little ways from Emily's house. Jessica had gotten up extra early to play another joke on Emily, on her way though she had run into Dekker. She had met Dekker the day before Emily came back. He informed her of Emily's return and told her his plan to hurt her. Jessica had happily agreed to help him not caring as to why the older man wanted to hurt Emily, as long as it meant Emily was suffering.

But what she didn't know was that she was part of a bigger plan, organized by Serrator to destroy the samurai. The first step was to break Emily. She was an easy target. Once the rangers got word of Emily's death they would all be vulnerable. Soon they would start fighting with each other, so upset by her passing and weaken themselves further. Once they were weak Serrator planned to come in and take them out, forever.

"I'm doing my best to hurt her. I even got the football team to help out!" Jessica said.

"I don't care. She needs to be weak, emotionally and physically. If you don't hurry up and hold up your end of the bargain, I won't hold up mine. Now I must go, but I will be back and the girl better be weak." Dekker said as he walked away and was sucked into a gap.

"No… C'mon Jessica think of something. What would really hurt her?" Jessica asked herself, "I got it!"


	17. Bruises and Runaways

**Author's Note: Extra long chapter because I love you guys. This chapter just kind of… happened. So tell me what you think. I hope it's good, tell me what you think! XOXOX**

**Chapter Sixteen: Bruises and Runaways **

Emily woke up the next morning surprised to find herself curled up on the couch with Mike's arms wrapped around her. She didn't remember falling asleep, but she assumed she had cried herself to sleep. Serena and Mike had asked about the bruise on her face the night before when they surprised her, and she had to tell them the truth. It was humiliating to admit that she had already been bullied as far as being bruised. After all her samurai training Emily still couldn't defend herself from the bullies. Emily quickly erased the negative thoughts that were forming out of her mind.

She looked around the living room and glanced out the window. It was still pretty dark, but the sun was now starting to come up. Emily looked around again for her sister and didn't see Serena anywhere. Carefully she crawled out of Mike's arms, trying her best not to wake him.

In the kitchen she saw Serena was making her favorite, pancakes. Emily smiled and looked at the clock. It was 6:30 in the morning. That's when Emily remembered she would have to be at school in less than two hours. She let out a sigh of disappointment, while also alerting Serena of her presence.

"Morning sunshine." Serena chuckled as she greeted her sister.

"Good morning. How long have you been up?" Emily asked with a yawn.

"Not very long, just long enough to get started on your favorite for breakfast." Serena answered.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Emily asked.

"You and Mike looked way too comfortable on the couch. It was too cute, I couldn't disturb you." Serena said with a smile.

Emily blushed a deep red when she realized her older sister had seen her cuddled up with Mike. She hadn't told her sister that she had feelings for Mike, but she was sure that by now Serena knew. If she didn't she was oblivious.

"Anyways," Emily said trying to change the subject, "I better get ready to get to school."

"Damn, I forgot you had to go." Serena said sadly.

"I'll be back at 3. Besides you're probably pretty tired. You can get some extra sleep in." Emily said as she started walking to go upstairs.

"Okay. But Emy?" Serena asked hesitantly.

"Yeah Serena?" Emily asked, turning around.

"Promise me you'll tell me if something like," Serena gestured to her face, "that happens. You know what happened last time you didn't tell someone. We don't want a repeat."

Emily sighed, "I promise."

"What are we talking about in here?" Mike said as he entered the room. He had just woken up and heard the girls talking in the kitchen and came to see what was happening.

"Nothing, I was just reminding Serena I have school today." Emily replied coolly.

"Do you have to go?" Mike asked.

"Yeah. It's technically my first week, and Haley will wonder where I am." Emily explained.

"Oh yeah, Mike told me about her. Have I met her before?" Serena asked.

"I highly doubt it. She came after I left and you wouldn't have been healed enough to go out." Emily said.

"Oh. Well, I should meet her sometime then." Serena said.

"Maybe I'll bring her by after school then." Emily said with a smile as she walked off towards her bedroom to get ready for school.

***Going Home***

Jayden woke up in the morning and turned to his night table. As he thought, it wasn't a dream. Serena and Mike had left in the night and the note from Serena was there to prove it. Jayden picked it up to read what it said. He hadn't read it the night before, as it was too dark.

'_Dear Jayden,_

_Don't be surprised to see Mike and I aren't there. We left. I know you didn't want us to, but we had to see Emily. Well, I had to see her. I couldn't convince Mike to stay home. Either way please don't come and get us. I swear we'll be home as soon as I see Emily's safe. Mike and I are ready for whatever punishment you're going to give us. If it's any consolation, we are sorry for disobeying, but we had to. I hope you can forgive us. See you soon. Xx_

_Sincerely, _

_The love struck Green Ranger and possibly temporary Yellow Ranger'_

Jayden wasn't at all surprised by the letter, except for the last part. He knew Serena and Mike went to see Emily. He knew they had to do it. He also knew Mike liked Emily, explaining the 'love struck'. What Jayden couldn't figure out was the 'possibly temporary' in front of Serena's title. Jayden shrugged it off and set the letter back on his table, choosing to ignore the ending until the two returned home.

The red ranger left his room and entered the common room to see the rest of the rangers sitting on their stools. When Jayden entered Mia, Kevin, and Antonio immediately looked up. Jayden knew what was coming and decided to get it over with.

"Yes, Serena and Mike have left to see Emily. No, I did not give them permission. No, we are not going out to bring them back." Jayden said before making his way to the kitchen for breakfast.

Mia, Kevin, and Antonio looked to each other with puzzled expressions. They didn't understand why Jayden didn't want to bring the two home. Normally Jayden would have been the first to suggest dragging them home.

Antonio finally stood up from his seat on his stool and followed Jayden into the kitchen.

"But Jayden, why aren't you upset and trying to bring them home?" Antonio asked.

Jayden turned to face the gold ranger, "I am upset. But going down would only leave the city wide open. Also, Serena left a note. It sounded like she will be returning as soon as she sees Emily safe. Presumably Mike and Serena will be home by the end of the day. If they aren't I will call them and demand they come home. When they return they will be punished." Jayden replied.

"Okay.." Antonio said, backing away.

***Going Home***

Emily walked into her class and took her seat next to Haley. Today more than before, all she wanted was to get home. There was no doubt in her mind that Jessica or Travis had something new planned. Along with that, Emily wanted to get back to her sister and Mike. She didn't know how long they would be there, but she assumed when they left she wouldn't see them again until the war was over.

"Hey, how are- woah. What the hell happened to your face?" Haley exclaimed once she got a look at Emily's purple and blue face.

"Travis and the football team. I'd rather not talk about it." Emily replied.

"Why did they do that?" Haley asked worriedly.

Emily was about to answer when she heard a burst of laughter from the front of the room. Apparently Travis and his team, along with Jessica and Shannon had seen Emily. They were no laughing at the damage they had done the day before. Emily held her head down in shame.

"Hey ass wipe!" Haley yelled at them.

"What did you call me?" Travis shouted as he walked over and stood threateningly over Haley.

"You heard me. What the hell is wrong with you?! Do you not see what you did to Emily?" Haley said angrily, not backing down.

"Why do you think we were laughing?" Travis said as he gestured to his group of friends still at the front of the room.

Haley let out a frustrated cry and punched Travis square across the face. Travis stumbled back in shock while holding his face in his hands. He would never admit it, but Haley was tough. The girl could hit hard.

The whole room could hear Jessica screech from the front of the room as she raced over to her boyfriend. She glared at Haley and Emily before turning her attention back to Travis. Now the whole class was interested in what would happen next. Not only had someone hit Travis, which never happened, but it had been a girl.

"You're gonna get it bitch.." Travis said as he aimed his fist at Haley's face.

Before Travis's fist could connect with Haley's face, Emily intervened. She used her samurai training to stop Travis's fist in mid air. Travis looked back at her, completely confused and shocked. Haley looked at her friend, surprised but ecstatic that Emily had saved her from a bruised face.

"You little shit.." Jessica said before slapping Emily across the face.

Emily stumbled back and held her stinging cheek. If it weren't for the bruise already on her face, Emily was positive it wouldn't have hurt nearly as bad. But because of her previous beating, her face hurt like hell.

"That's enough girls, and boy." Mrs. Johnson said upon entering the room and seeing the exchange.

"All four of you to the principal's office, now." Mrs. Johnson said sternly.

As they left a round of 'ooooh's erupted from the students when Emily, Haley, Travis, and Jessica walked out.

"This is all your fault." Jessica spit at Emily.

"My fault?!" Emily shrieked.

"How is this her fault? Out of all of us, Emily is the most innocent!" Haley defended her.

"Bull!" Travis said as he was dragged to the office by Jessica.

"Watch out Emily! I'm so getting revenge for this!" Jessica yelled from half way down the hallway.

"I don't care what happens, it was so worth it to see you punch him in the face." Emily mumbled to Haley.

***Going Home***

"Emily!" Mike yelled as he rushed to give Emily a hug, which Emily eagerly returned. Mike and Serena had gone down to the school after hearing Emily had been in a fight. They were currently in the office, since both of Emily's parents were walking in the fields they couldn't be bothered. But Serena was convinced the principal would be just as happy talking to her.

"What the hell happened?" Mike asked worriedly, all without letting Emily go.

"Haley yelled at the guy who beat me up yesterday. Then she punched him. He was going to hit her but I stopped him. Then Jessica slapped me, there were some swear words in there too." Emily sobbed into his chest.

Mike rubbed circles into Emily's back, just like hours before. He looked around the room and saw a boy Emily's age sitting in a chair, with a big bruise on his jaw. Next to him was a blonde holding ice to his face. Mike assumed these were the two responsible for Emily's pain.

In the corner was a girl with dark brown, almost black hair. She was wearing skinny jeans and combat boots, Mike knew this must be Haley. Mike walked with Emily back to the chair so they could both sit down. After a few minutes of waiting, with Mike holding Emily the entire time, Serena and two parents walked out of the principal's office.

"C'mon Em, we're going home." Serena said with a slight smile.

"What happened?" Emily asked, unmoving.

"I'll tell you when we get outside. Grab Haley too, her parents couldn't be here and I told the principal I'd take her home with us and let her parents know." Serena said.

Emily left Mike's side and walked over to where Haley was sitting in the corner. The principal had heard she was the instigator and demanded she stay away from the others while they waited.

"You're coming home with me. Let's get outta here." Emily said as she held her hand out.

Haley took her hand and stood up. The two girls walked over to where Serena and Mike were waiting by the door. All four of them walked out of the school and started to walk home.


End file.
